• June 2026 PS Plus Games have been revealed
• Among them is Grounded Fully Yolked Edition
• This Xbox-published game was once an Xbox exclusive, and now PS Plus members get it for free

June is days away and that means a fresh new batch of PS Plus Essential games is about to be handed out to subscribers. While we usually have to wait to find out the selection, Sony’s Day of Play 2026 campaign has just told us what we’ll be playing early.

The titles are:

• Grounded Fully Yoked Edition
• Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2
• Warhammer 40,000 Darktide

There’s a definite multiplayer focus here. Warhammer and Grounded are solid co-op titles to head into with a squad, while Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 is a great character fighter that fans of Nintendo’s Smash Bros. series will very much enjoy.

The first two are playable across both the PS4 and PS5, while Darktide is restricted to current-gen hardware.

Notably, Grounded was, until 2024, an Xbox exclusive. The Obsidian co-op survival adventure about shrunken children attempting to thrive in their perilous backyard is published by Xbox Game Studios.

It has been playable on rival systems for a couple of years now, but seeing it get given away by Sony to its PS Plus members does hit me in a way as a former Xbox fanboy (though I have been loving the Asus Rog Xbox Ally X handheld).

It continues the trend of Xbox’s changing gaming priorities, about getting players into its experiences where they are rather than forcing them into one specific system.

And as more former Xbox exclusives hit Sony’s digital shelves we’ll probably see more in its PS Plus catalogue — either as free games like this or in the rotating catalogue. Indiana Jones seems like a PS Plus title waiting to happen, especially if/when a sequel is close to launch.

For now, we have this trio of titles to dive into while we wait to see what else is in store when the next State of Play rolls in on June 2.

• The monthly PlayStation Plus games for March 2026 have been revealed
• They include Monster Hunter Rise, PGA Tour 2K25, The Elder Scrolls Online Collection: Gold Road, and Slime Rancher 2
• Members can claim the free games from March 3

Sony has officially announced the next batch of PlayStation Plus games for March 2026.

Starting from March 3 through to April 6, all members of PlayStation Plus tiers, including Essential, Extra, and Premium, will be able to claim four games next month.

Like with almost every monthly PS Plus collection, the games for March were leaked ahead of time, but Sony has now confirmed what they are in a new PlayStation Blog post.

The games include PGA Tour 2K25, the latest entry in the golf simulation series, and let players compete in The PGA Championship, The U.S. Open, and The Open Championship.

There's also The Elder Scrolls Online Collection: Gold Road, which grants access to the base game and all major Chapter zones, including Morrowind, Summerset, Elsweyr, Greymoor, Blackwood, High Isle, Necrom, and Gold Road, as well as all the biomes and quest arcs across Tamriel.

Monster Hunter Rise will also be on offer. The game was originally released on Nintendo Switch in 2021 before it arrived on PS5 and PS4 in 2023.

Finally, there's Slime Rancher 2, the adorable sequel to the award-winning hit, which TechRadar Gaming's Gaming Editor Dashiell Wood calls "the kind of game I could play for hours and hours" and "one of the most relaxing games I've ever played."

You can check out the full list of games and their platforms below:

PlayStation Plus games for March 2026

• PGA Tour 2K25 - PS5 
• Monster Hunter Rise - PS5, PS4
• Slime Rancher 2 - PS5 
• The Elder Scrolls Online Collection: Gold Road - PS5, PS4

Members have until March 2 to claim February's PlayStation Plus games, which include Undisputed, Subnautica: Below Zero, Ultros, and Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown.

The PlayStation Portal has really come into its own with the late-2024 update to fully enable cloud streaming (for PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers), but it’s had a very dedicated fanbase ever since it was revealed.

Even as a fresh remote play-focused handheld in late 2023, I was fully in on the device, and I couldn’t wait to test, review, and fully adopt the Portal and make it part of my setup.

That’s still the case today, and I simply couldn’t be without it, especially given that my main platform is PlayStation 5 (by a long way), and the handheld’s DualSense shape and ergonomic design are perfect for my different hands (more context on that both when I saw the PlayStation Access controller, and then reviewed it).

However, in the more than two years I’ve had it, I’ve never stopped thinking about how it could be improved and refined even more to offer an even better remote-play and cloud-streaming experience. Plus, after I recently wrote about the super-slow charging of the PlayStation Portal over an extended holiday, I really got thinking about what I’d want to see in a new version of the accessory.

So, I present you with my wishlist for a PlayStation Portal 2, for lack of a better term. This wishlist keeps the remote-play and growing cloud-streaming abilities at the core of a next-gen Portal – we’re not jumping into native-playing handheld games-console territory – and highlights a few things that I think could really enhance it.

Do you agree with these? What would you like to see in a second PlayStation Portal? Let me know in the comments!

Up the power with a new battery and fast charging

After dealing with the limitations of the Portal’s current charging times and battery capacity over the holidays at the end of last year, this had to be the first thing on my list.

I think you could probably get away with a similar-capacity battery in a new model, but it simply has to have faster charging to enable folks like me to know that their Portal is going to be all juiced up and ready to go in super-quick time, rather than having to plan extended charging sessions.

However, having said that, it's probably safe to assume – and hope – that with one comes the other, so a bigger battery would certainly be welcome too. While I always seem to have enough for my play sessions, raising the ceiling further would only be a good thing. Plus, there are some other things on this list that will increase the demand on the battery, so it’ll be sensible in that regard, too.

A new screen to make games shine

An enhanced screen is something the Portal community always shouts about when talk of a new model comes around.

I’ll refrain from just flat-out demanding an OLED screen here – the demand on the battery could be massive, even if the battery got a boost too – but even something akin to the Switch 2’s Vivid LCD would be welcome.

Nintendo’s upgraded handheld screen has shown that 1080p handhelds in modern times don’t have to jump straight to OLED panels to see an upgrade. And that upgrade is tangible in more than one way: games look nicer for sure, with better picture quality, richer colors, and nicer contrasts, but it also has a higher refresh rate, allowing for higher frame rates.

Bring in Bluetooth audio

Another of the community’s most-requested features in any future updates to this model or a new Portal is the inclusion of Bluetooth pairing for headphones or earbuds.

Part of me can kind of see why Sony wanted to limit the wireless connections to its own proprietary PlayStation Link, but the other part of me still feels that decision is a bit mean, and basically unnecessary – let the people use their own audio solutions, which would likely include many Sony and PlayStation products too.

With folks already shelling out for the Portal itself – and maybe even the top-tier of PS Plus on top of that – it feels a bit stingy to close off the audio possibilities. Fans have sort of found ways around this anyway with third-party Bluetooth adapters – though I much prefer to use my Pulse Explore earbuds with the Portal – but official support for Bluetooth would be a huge plus for a future Portal 2 in my view.

Whip up more Wi-Fi

With so much of the Portal’s functionality at the mercy of external internet and connection factors, it seems sensible for a new model to put the very best option possible onboard. This would ensure that any Portal 2 is best equipped within itself to offer the strongest and most stable internet connection, no matter how close to Sony’s minimum your internet connection might be externally.

Thus, boosting the current Portal’s onboard Wi-Fi 5 hardware to at least Wi-Fi 6, but preferably Wi-Fi 7, on any newer model would make for a welcome upgrade.

Insert some more intuitive controls

The biggest improvement I’d like to see on the button and input front is a better replacement for the DualSense touchpad. To be frank, I’ve never had a huge problem with double-tapping the Portal’s touchscreen, but it still doesn’t feel elegant or work 100% of the time.

A neatly placed dedicated button, which may even have some touch-sensitive tech like the Apple iPhone camera button, and which can be used for things like swiping up on the touchpad, would be excellent. To my eye, there’s space on the Portal as it stands for something like that – but then again, I don’t design these things…

Elsewhere, I’d enjoy seeing a rethink of the power, volume, and PS Link buttons on the top of the current Portal. They function fine, but it would be great if they were easier to reach and nicer to interact with.

In fact, while I’m wishing for things, adding microswitch buttons to every appropriate face button and shoulder button, and upgrading the thumbsticks with Hall Effect or the newer Tunneling Magnetoresistance (TMR) tech, as we see on some premium PS5 controllers, would be some serious icing on this cake. Though I wouldn't hold my breath on this, given we don't see this on any of Sony's own DualSense controllers.

More seamless menu integrations

A bit more to do with software than hardware here, and while the update at the end of 2024 did give the menus and interface a welcome overhaul, there’s something not quite right about the current integration of certain PS5 features and notifications on the Portal right now, especially when cloud-streaming games.

Trophies are a good example of this, as when I earn one while cloud streaming, all I see is a ‘Silver trophy earned!’ notification, rather than the usual graphic and description combo we all know and love. This feels like it needs refining.

It would also be great if we got a rejig of functions like party settings and other such core controls, so that they were ‘closer to hand’ in both modes, making it easier to change settings when streaming, without having to go back into the PS5’s open settings when remote playing.

Give me some official accessories

Another one that’s less hardware or onboard software-related, but there’s definitely an opportunity with a new Portal for Sony to embrace the opportunity to fully adorn it with official accessories and goodies.

The obvious candidates are official screen protectors and carry cases, made to precise measurements and exacting standards to ensure protection for your Portal when you’re taking it out and about – but also with enough storage room for the companion earbuds, of course.

I’d also extend this to official grips and thumbstick covers, too - which I'm a huge fan of using elsewhere - given that the Portal, while based on a DualSense, doesn’t have exactly the same measurements and details to make accessories interchangeable. As someone who benefits from these greatly, official items like them are something I’d be all over.

Bring cloud streaming to more PS Plus tiers

Again, this isn’t something that’s strictly tied to the device itself, but opening up the cloud streaming ability to a vast number of players would be a heck of a way to launch a new Portal, wouldn’t it?

I’d love to see the numbers of members on each level of subscription, but I’m guessing that Premium may have the smallest membership, and despite folks paying more for the top tier for the pleasure of cloud streaming, if Sony opened this feature up to even the Extra tier, there would be huge numbers of folks adopting the Portal, I’d wager.

As an extension of this, if the ability to stream my own games could be extended at the same time to include literally all of my own games, that would be fantastic too.

I never thought I’d grow to love the PlayStation Portal like I do today. I recently wrote about how some very considered updates to the remote play device have transformed it into an extremely capable game streaming platform. I’ve spent hours now perusing PS Plus’s massive library for new games to check out without needing to download them to the PS5 console first.

The holiday season isn’t that long behind us, and if, like me, you picked up a PlayStation Portal because of its discounted price in the pre-Christmas sales, it’s easy to feel spoiled for choice at first. Especially if you have that PS Plus Premium subscription and a fully unlocked Game Catalog to explore.

With that in mind, I’m here to give you some pointers as to where to begin your journey with some personal PlayStation Portal game picks. We’ll go over everything from AAA hits and mid-budget delights to indie gems and stone-cold classics from prior console generations. As for criteria, the following games look wonderful on the Portal’s smaller 1080p display, and won’t turn into a crunchy bitrate nightmare over the cloud-streamed connection. Let’s dive in.

1. Sackboy: A Big Adventure

There’s a decent number of PlayStation Studios titles available via PS Plus streaming. The Last of Us series, Marvel’s Spider-Man, and Demon’s Souls are all available to play via cloud streaming on the Portal. However, I’ve elected to choose one that may have passed you by, and it’s a very impressive PS5 launch game.

Sackboy: A Big Adventure is a mesmerizingly colorful collectathon-style platformer that really didn’t get much buzz back in 2020. I always found that surprising, given the love many a PlayStation fan has for LittleBigPlanet. It looks tremendous on the Portal’s sharp display, and it’s a perfect game for short portable play sessions during your lunch break or right before bed.

If you (rightly) loved Astro Bot and you’re looking for a similar platforming experience - from PlayStation Studios itself, no less - then you must give Sackboy: A Big Adventure a try.

2. Red Dead Redemption

To this day, the original Red Dead Redemption remains my favorite game developed by Rockstar. There’s been a real push from the developer recently to have the open-world wild west drama available on many different platforms, including Nintendo Switch 2 and PS5.

It’s also available to play on the Portal via cloud streaming, and it’s a surprisingly brilliant fit for the device. There are no fancy particle effects here to throttle the bitrate, and the eerie, isolated nature of Red Dead Redemption's map makes it a fantastic and capable streaming companion.

The PS5 port boasts a resolution upscale and runs at a silky smooth 60 frames per second. As a result, there are few platforms that offer a better play experience for this 2010 classic.

3. Earth Defense Force 6

Okay, it might not be the most immediately appealing game at first glance, but let me try to sell you on Earth Defense Force 6 and why it’s a great fit for the Portal.

If you’re unfamiliar, EDF is an incredibly simple series of third-person shooters with a staunch cult audience. As one of four varied classes, you choose weaponry and vehicles to bring into missions, and blast giant insects and aliens into smithereens. Said classes include a laser-shooting flying valkyrie - the Wing Diver - and a literal mech of a man in the Fencer, a terrifying walking tank able to dual-wield miniguns.

That’s EDF at surface level, but one seriously underappreciated aspect of the series is its mind-boggling sense of scale. A literal army of giant hornets is one thing; it’s another to watch a mothership the size of the moon slowly descend through the clouds overhead. What the series lacks in cutting-edge visuals, it more than makes up for in the sheer awe of setpieces like this. It’s a cheesy, lighthearted series to be sure, but one that can nonetheless strike the fear of god into you.

Earth Defense Force 6 is the latest in the mainline series, and its simple, coherent visual style looks great on the Portal’s display. It runs excellently, too, doing a great job of maintaining a high frame rate even during the most hectic missions. The rather short nature of most missions also makes it ideal to just hop in, upgrade your classes, and gather new weapons in a very time-efficient manner.

Seriously, I cannot recommend this one enough. Though maybe not if you're arachnophobic. Those giant spiders are genuinely horrifying.

4. Skate Story

One of the most genuinely mind-blowing indie games I’ve ever played, Skate Story combines the sim-lite mechanics of the skate series with the hazy, dreamlike quality of killer7, Hotline Miami, or even a dash of Cruelty Squad.

Skate Story isn’t as graphically violent as those games, of course, but it sets a similarly somber mood and atmosphere as the player character - the Glass Skater (and yes, that’s literal) - kickflips, shove-its, and grinds through the underworld. Backed by a phenomenal soundtrack by Blood Cultures (seriously, you need to play this game with headphones), Skate Story is an experience I simply wasn’t able to put down.

Skate Story is a brilliant fit for the Portal. It can be beaten in a handful of handheld sessions, and I loved plugging in a wired headset, curling up in bed, and just vibing out to the immaculate visuals and soundtrack on offer here. It’s a real treat, and easily one of 2025’s best indie offerings.

5. Blue Prince

Now, from one critically-acclaimed indie to another, we have Blue Prince. A real ‘talk of the town’ game from last year, we at TechRadar Gaming ranked it as one of our top games of the year.

With simple, readable visuals that really pop on the PlayStation Portal, Blue Prince is a sprawling mystery game that’s fiendishly tough to solve as it is to put down. I’ve lost count of the times I burned the midnight oil getting closer to the center of the mystery of the Mount Holly estate. And it’s all been time well-spent.

Games like Blue Prince, Outer Wilds, and Lorelei and the Laser Eyes are some of my favorites. Exploring a vast space and slowly unraveling clues that lead to even greater mysteries and plot revelations is an endlessly satisfying feeling. And Blue Prince’s central room drafting mechanic lends it an air of roguelite and deckbuilders alike.

While not squarely falling into those categories by any means, it successfully borrows those playstyles to create something genuinely fresh. I still can’t stop thinking about Blue Prince in 2026, and it definitely feels like the kind of game its fans will be theorizing about - and potentially uncovering even more hidden secrets - for years to come.

6. Shadowrun Trilogy

Okay, yes, I’m cheating a bit here. Harebrained Schemes’ Shadowrun Trilogy is indeed three separate games: Shadowrun Returns, Shadowrun: Dragonfall, and Shadowrun: Hong Kong.

All three share the same isometric, turn-based strategy gameplay, and all have excellent stories, settings, and characters. As a result, if one of these games gets its hooks into you, you’ll more than likely fall prey to the others, as well.

The gorgeously sharp and gritty 2D visuals are a great match for the Portal. There’s a lot of text, and the user interface can feel quite busy, but it’s all surprisingly legible and very well-designed.

While I’ve played through all of them on PC, they’re all available via the PS Plus Game Catalog. If you’ve been a fan of turn-based strategy titles like XCOM 2 or Marvel’s Midnight Suns, it’ll be very easy to fall in love with Shadowrun.

7. Ridge Racer 2

Ridge Racer 2 is a pretty unique entry in the beloved arcade racing series. It feels like a compilation, or an anthology, throwing in tracks, cars, and music from all Ridge Racer games released up to that point into one content-rich package.

And boy, is Ridge Racer 2 stuffed with hours upon hours of things to do. It was originally released on the PSP, and those handheld chops are far better suited to the Portal than they are blown up on a 4K display.

I’m a huge fan of the series, but Ridge Racer 2 is one entry that escaped me, as I never owned a PSP growing up. It was a surprise addition to PS Plus a couple of years ago, though, and recently, I’ve loved diving back in for some quick-and-simple arcade action whenever I have a spare few minutes. They’re a little more streamlined here, but the drifting mechanics remain some of the most satisfying across the broader racing game spectrum.

Please, Bandai Namco, the children yearn for Ridge Racer 8…

8. Tomb Raider Anniversary

Tomb Raider Anniversary is a game I remember enjoying greatly when I owned it on the Wii way back when, but I didn’t know it was also available on the PS2 at the time. Now that it’s come to PS Plus (sporting a glorious performance glow-up, mind you), it plays better on the PS5 and Portal than it ever has before.

Above all, I’m quite stunned at just how well the Tomb Raider games in between the classic and modern era (those being Legend, Anniversary, and Underworld) hold up. Lara controls amazingly, feeling like a solid evolution of where the series came from, also without feeling as on-rails as the Uncharted series’ platforming - a series that was, at the time, almost singlehandedly airdropping PS3 consoles into people’s houses.

Anniversary is a remake of the original Tomb Raider. And funnily enough, we’ve got another one of those coming along this year in the form of Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis. If you’re excited for that, I strongly encourage you to give Anniversary a go. The series has always been in safe hands at Crystal Dynamics, and this entry is one of the developer’s finest.

9. Soul Calibur 3

A real monster of a game to close out on, and one I never in a million years thought would make it to PS Plus. Especially as it’s never - not once - had a re-release beyond its PS2 exclusivity.

Soul Calibur 3 is perhaps the best single-player fighting game of all time. What do I mean by that? Well, the game simply has a dizzying amount of content - both unlockable and available from the jump.

Story mode with branching paths for every character. Create a Soul mode for making custom characters, which in itself has unlockable clothing and playstyle options. A plethora of characters, stages, and bonus modes to unlock. And to top it all off, a full-blown real-time strategy side story that combines Soul Calibur’s excellent 3D fighting with base and unit management.

It’s a real looker for its time, too, further cementing the notorious leap in visual quality from the original PlayStation to the PS2. It holds up to scrutiny on the Portal’s modern display, too, looking effortlessly sharp on that 1080p screen - especially as Soul Calibur 3 offers native widescreen support in its settings menu.

Fighting games are best played with friends, of course, such is the nature of the genre. But if there ever was to be an exception, it’s definitely Soul Calibur 3.

My enjoyment of the PlayStation Portal has been ever-present since it launched in late 2023, but 2025’s transformative updates have made it an excellent cloud gaming device, elevating the handheld to new levels – and heightening my love for it exponentially.

I was away from home for around three weeks recently for the holidays and only had access to the Portal for gaming. It was my absolute savior, and now, enhanced by its cloud streaming abilities, I had so much more at my fingertips than what I was able to prepare on my PlayStation 5 Pro at home.

I managed to play on it for hours and hours here and there, making use of both play modes (that’s remote play and cloud streaming) as a result. However, one thing really does still irk me about the handheld: its battery’s charging time.

Familiarity with familiarity

First, the good stuff. Boy, does the PlayStation Portal keep offering an exceptional way for me to play my PS5 games and work on the backlog, but this holiday season, after its cloud streaming update, and being away from home for a few weeks, it really took that to another level. I was able to carry on getting hours of gaming in almost every day to play pretty much everything I wanted.

Previously, when going away from home, I’d be conscious to leave my TV unit door open, to ensure my PS5 Pro could breathe and not be suffocated by its own hot air after each remote session, but this time I needn't have bothered. The ability to now stream my own games, on top of everything included in the PS Plus Premium cloud library, meant that even games I had expected to play remotely were now at my fingertips through the internet.

As a result, streaming and quickly jumping into The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Control: Ultimate Edition, and starting an annual playthrough of The Last of Us Part I complemented remote playing Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered beautifully.

Not hugely new games, and all ones that I’ve played before, but the Portal having this extra string to its bow means there’s more opportunity and more convenience to being able to replay familiar favorites rather than have to convince myself to jump back into things I know and love over newer titles.

Familiar games naturally feel right at home on the Portal - now a very familiar device for me - so it is a sort of circular confirmation. But if I were playing new games, it’d be exactly the same: streaming your own games and those on the cloud is just brilliant for Portal users.

Taking its sweet time

But it wasn’t all perfectly rosy. One flaw with the Portal kept ruffling my feathers: its battery. And I’m not even talking about battery life, but rather how unbelievably slowly it charges up once you’ve used it. Overall battery life has also been a chink in the armor for the Portal, though personally, I’ve always found the duration reliable enough for my play sessions; the charging, however, is painfully slow.

So much so that, after finding a couple of hours of playtime nearly every early morning over the course of the holidays, I routinely had to plan specifically when and where to charge the Portal so it could sit uninterrupted to refill its juice, and ensure it'd be safely topped up for the next play session.

Then, almost every subsequent check of the charging progress was met with disappointment. It was like one’s own potential bank balance: always lower than you think. This was also the ire of my family, who wanted to charge their phones. Oops.

In a world where we have ultra-fast phone chargers and an array of charge-delivery systems for laptops, tablets, and other devices, especially when you look at GaN chargers, I am extra baffled by the charging pace, or lack thereof, for the Portal’s battery. For context, it has always taken me around two and a half hours (sometimes longer) to get the Portal back to 100% from nearly empty. Thus, given my holiday play sessions took the device down to around 50%, I was looking at needing it to be tethered for comfortably more than an hour.

I love my launch Portal still, despite that, but if there is ever to be a revision of the device, then a much-improved battery with faster charging time - a dedicated quick charge function would be a joy - has to be near the top of the list for Sony when considering how to make this brilliant device even better.

There's no doubt that the gaming industry is changing in multiple ways, with both PC and console manufacturers investing in portable gaming experiences via handheld devices, and consoles utilizing technologies like Nvidia and AMD's upscaling in DLSS and FSR, respectively.

We're seeing rumors of Sony making a new native handheld (a step up from the remote play PlayStation Portal device), and especially, the recent ROG Xbox Ally handhelds from Microsoft and Asus, take center stage. The strongest variant, the ROG Xbox Ally X, has been a point of contention, with a price tag set at $999 / £799 / AU$1,599, costing more than a powerful PS5 Pro.

While Sarah Bond (Xbox President) stated that Asus ultimately determined the pricing of the handhelds, Microsoft and Xbox have already been increasing prices for both its Xbox Game Pass subscription plans and its Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles, and it's safe to say that it's annoyed many fans.

It gets worse when you realize that Bond made it clear that the next-gen Xbox console will be a 'very premium, very high-end curated experience'. This aligns with rumors suggesting it could be a PC-hybrid of some sort, and Sony PlayStation's Mark Cerny and AMD have already teased the highly anticipated PlayStation 6 using enhanced ray tracing, which draws hints at path tracing capabilities.

Both of these cases for next-gen PlayStation and Xbox consoles mean that we could very well be entering a generation of console gaming that is only attainable if consumers are willing to pay a premium price for consoles that may not end up offering premium experiences that justify those prices. Do I think gamers will be okay with that? Absolutely not, and a few of the reasons why may be obvious.

Premium pricing could destroy a major foundation of the console gaming appeal

It's one thing to offer a premium option, as Sony has done with the PS5 Pro, providing more powerful hardware to push visual fidelity and performance in games a step further. However, it becomes an issue if either the PS6 or the next-gen Xbox console's base model is so 'high-end' in terms of hardware that consumers may have no choice but to spend significantly more than usual.

I've been a console gamer (now primarily on PC) long enough to know that one of the fundamental aspects of console gaming is affordability, ensuring couch gameplay is still accessible to a wide range of gamers. However, if we begin to see console starting prices at $999 or $1,099 (which isn't off the charts at this rate), it partly defeats the purpose of console gaming.

One of the many reasons console gamers won't move over to PC gaming is because of pricing, and while there is only so much Sony and Microsoft can do to keep prices within a reasonable standard while providing more powerful hardware, high prices may not resonate well with console gamers.

Frustration from consumers may be the case, especially if these teased consoles from Sony and Microsoft fail to meet the 'high-end' and 'very premium' standards that are being touted. We've already seen this unfold with the ROG Xbox Ally X; to put it simply, the handheld's value is arguably poor considering the alternatives with very similar performance and power at half its $999 price, i.e. the original Asus ROG Ally using the Ryzen Z1 Extreme.

If next-gen console prices take a step up above the PS5 Pro's $699.99 / £699.99 / AU$1,199, then what stops gamers from switching over to PC for potentially better hardware around similar prices? That's already the view I and other consumers share with the PS5 Pro, but handhelds like the ROG Xbox Ally X or Lenovo Legion Go 2 ($1,099.99 / £899 / AU$1,809) have become the center of that discussion.

You could likely still be paying for annual subscriptions on a high priced console

I've touched on this matter previously, but PS Plus and Game Pass subscriptions (which are required for online multiplayer access on console) are part of the reason why I believe PC gaming is cheaper in the long run compared to console gaming.

I think it's safe to say Microsoft and Xbox are continuously proving my point by increasing Game Pass prices, leaving the annual Ultimate tier option costing nearly as much as an Xbox Series S console, but I digress.

With this in mind, not only could console players potentially be paying a lot for online services, but also similar (or at least close enough) prices to what PC gamers would pay for a new rig or components, making the overall expense more than what's found on PC in many cases. Again, these are hypothetical scenarios, as neither the Xbox nor the PlayStation consoles have even been announced, but the market has a trend that backs up my argument of high starting prices.

Aside from optional subscription plans on PC like PC Game Pass, EA Play, or Ubisoft+, hardware ends up being the biggest hurdle in expenses.

Overall, having seen frequent price hikes from both Sony and Microsoft recently (mostly from the latter), it's left me even less confident that either will be reasonable with pricing for next-gen hardware – and I hope that by the time both are revealed, I'll be proven wrong.

• Sony has announced the new games coming to the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog this month
• They include Silent Hill 2 and Until Dawn
• Both are horror games that would be perfect for Halloween

Sony has unveiled the new games coming to its PlayStation Plus subscription service this month, and some of them will be absolutely perfect for Halloween.

Available for PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium subscribers via the game catalog, the biggest arrivals come in the form of Silent Hill 2 and Until Dawn. Both of these games are PlayStation 5 console exclusive horror titles and would be perfect for curling up with a blanket come October 31.

I've played both and can confirm that they are suitably creepy. Though Silent Hill 2 is definitely my favorite of the pair, Until Dawn is a fantastic cinematic adventure that's just like playing your very own multi-genre scary movie.

Keeping with the Halloween theme, subscribers will also be able to play V Rising and, if you fancy a break from all the scares, the zany open-world Yakuza: Like a Dragon.

Poppy Playtime: Chapter 1, As Dusk Falls, and Wizard with a Gun are also coming to the game catalogue.

Those after a retro fix will also be able to try Tekken 3, a re-release of the original PlayStation version with some modern enhancements.

All of these games drop on October 21, and if you don't yet have a subscription, you can see the very best prices in your region below.

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• PlayStation is sticking to its strategy of not launching first-party games on PS Plus on day one
• PlayStation vice president of global services Nick Maguire says "we’re not looking to put games in day and date"
• He adds that bringing games to the service 12-18 months after they've released is "working really well across the platform"

PlayStation has confirmed that it will be sticking to its current launch strategy and won't start releasing first-party games on PS Plus on day one.

In an interview with Game File, PlayStation vice president of global services Nick Maguire explained that the company is not looking to change its policy by adding first-party titles to the subscription service the same day they release, unlike Xbox with Game Pass.

"We’ve sort of stayed true to our strategy across the board, where we’re not looking to put games in day and date," Maguire said.

Xbox has remained consistent with how it releases exclusive titles, like Starfield and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, to Game Pass, however, as Maguire goes on to explain, Sony only adds its first-party titles to PS Plus at least 18 months after launch.

"Our strategy of finding four or five independent day-and-date titles - and using that to complement our strategy of bringing games in when they’re 12, 18 months old or older - that balance for us is working really well across the platform," he said. "If there were six or seven great opportunities, then we would go for them as well."

God of War Ragnarok, which launched in late 2022, wasn't available on PS Plus until January 2025, almost 26 months later, while Horizon Forbidden West, which was released in February 2022, was added a lot sooner in February 2023 before it was later removed from the service in 2024.

When asked if PlayStation would ever consider adding first party live-service games to PS Plus, like Concord - a game that was taken offline after just two weeks - Maguire declined to comment but did say that the service has "proven itself to be a great way to introduce new players to franchises".

"There's always going to be a moment for any game where there's the right time for it to go into Plus, when it's ready to reach a wider audience or… to find new fans or new parts of our platform that it hasn't already reached," Maguire said.

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• Sony celebrates 15 years of PlayStation Plus with a summer of exclusive offers for members
• PS Plus Premium members can experience a Game Trial of Monster Hunter Wilds and WWE 2K25
• Several events, including an Online Multiplayer weekend, will also be held this month

Sony is celebrating 15 years of PlayStation Plus with a summer of exclusive offers for members.

Starting now throughout summer, Sony will be commemorating the service's latest milestone by running a series of activities available to subscribers.

"PlayStation Plus is celebrating its 15-year anniversary later this month, and it’s amazing to see how much the service has evolved since it first launched on June 29, 2010," Sony said on PlayStation Blog. "From all of us at Sony Interactive Entertainment, we want to send out a huge thank you to all our fans for your support throughout these years."

First up is a Game Trial of WWE 2K25 for PS Plus Premium members, which is available now, as well as a Game Trial for one of the best games of the year so far, Monster Hunter Wilds, which can be claimed on June 30.

Subscribers can also redeem the Valorant PS Plus Pack today, which features a set of cosmetic items including 2x Prelude to Chaos Gun Buddy, 1x Kohaku & Matsuba Player Card, 1x Imperium Spray, 1x Chronovoid Spray, and 10x Radianite Points.

Sony will then host a PlayStation Store Exclusive Offer Weekend on June 27 to June 29, which will offer members the opportunity to grab exclusive savings on titles such as Sniper Elite: Resistance, Sid Meier’s Civilization VII, and Star Wars Outlaws.

A special PlayStation Plus 15th Anniversary Cup tournament will then be held on June 28, where players will be able to compete in games like EA Sports FC, NBA 2K, UFC, Madden NFL, College Football, Tekken 8, and more for a chance to win prizes including in-game virtual currency, an exclusive PSN avatar, and Sony Pictures Core Movie Credits.

An Online Multiplayer weekend will also kick off the same day until June 29, where players can join online multiplayer matches with no PlayStation Plus membership required, and, finally, from today through August 12, Premium members can unlock a 15% discount on up to 2,000 movies store-wide across the Sony Pictures Core library.

Alongside these offers, Sony has also announced the batch of free PS4 and PS5 games for the month of July, which includes Diablo 4, The King of Fighters XV, and Jusant.

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While the Nintendo Switch 2 is finally here, it's got absolutely zero chance of dislodging my gaming handheld of choice: the PlayStation Portal.

Now, I can already hear the screams of "they're totally different propositions", which I get, but at the end of the day, they're both viable gaming handhelds in the year 2025, so they're going to face off to a degree.

That face-off for me was won by the Portal even before we knew that much officially about the Switch 2 - it's just a better handheld for me, and it could be for you too in terms of what it offers and a bunch of what I talk about in this here article.

Some of the below reasons will be subjective, maybe even personal, but there's method to my not-madness, and some overwhelmingly positive reasons why the Portal wins out.

The Portal is a PS5 owner's accessory dream

Let's get the obvious platform-based point out of the way first, shall we?

Tied to a completely different ecosystem, the PlayStation Portal indeed won't have the same games as a Switch 2, but if you're a committed PS5-er looking for a handheld way to play your games, then the Portal is it.

I've found its streaming of my home PlayStation 5 or PS5 Pro to be almost entirely seamless, and have even had the best time playing my library at home while being in Germany with the Portal. It has opened up a brilliant way for me to get more PS5 hours in while abroad like that, or even when just sharing the sofa with my wife.

As a result, if you are an existing PS5 owner and user (like me), and particularly if that's your main platform (also like me), then the Portal is an incredible accessory to have. It will make being able to play more PS5 games (and PS4 games) possible, so you can whittle down your backlog more effectively (hopefully).

The Portal has a way better design

This is something I've spoken about before a lot, but surely we can all agree that the Portal, flat out, has a better design than the Switch 2, right?

This is rooted in the fact that, I think, there are two ways one can design a gaming handheld.

You can either build a handheld around the screen and its internals, prioritizing the performance, hardware specs, and so on, and then apply the controls later; or you can build a handheld around an existing controller design to prioritize ergonomics and design before the screen and hardware specs to ensure that it is the best possible thing to hold as well as perform.

The former - something I believe the Switch 2 conforms to - means that controls are, by default, more of an afterthought, whereas the latter, as demonstrated by the Portal, is a forethought and drives the design of the whole unit with ease of use at the fore.

Personally, due to having different hands, and because it is designed around the excellent DualSense Wireless controller, the Portal is a gaming handheld I can actually use.

However, away from my own hands, I would argue that this makes it better for almost anyone for similar reasons, over the Switch 2. The DualSense controller shape is clearly better in the hands than a slim plastic chassis, in my opinion.

Elsewhere on the topic of design and aesthetics, if you're a design fanatic, it's also worth noting that the Portal even comes in 100% more colorways than the Switch 2 currently does - literally. That goes up to 200% if you count the 30th Anniversary Portal too.

The Portal is a, well, portal to immersion

Augmenting the design excellence and superior ergonomics that the Portal offers over the Switch 2, there's also the fact that the Portal taps into more DualSense features under the hood.

Again, because it's based around a controller, it offers all that said controller has: and that extends to the haptic feedback and adaptive triggers that make that pad so good.

The result of this is a far greater level of immersion and feedback in games that the Switch 2 can't compete with.

Now, if the Switch 2 had an OLED screen, that might tilt the balance a bit, but it doesn't; both have full HD LCD screens, which keeps the immersion playing field relatively equal away from the splendid haptics.

The Switch 2's launch game library is underwhelming at best

Away from the platform and preference-based chat, there's the simple fact that, objectively, the PlayStation Portal's game library, or games you can play on it, is just better than the Switch 2's launch library.

The Switch 2's big launch game is Mario Kart World, naturally, but beyond that, it's a sea of mainly enhanced original Switch games and ports of existing games from the past couple of years. Big whoop.

And yes, I know that the Switch 2 is backwards compatible, but if you're after a means to play a host of new games on a handheld device, then the Portal has it.

Plus, now you can stream games from the cloud on the PlayStation Portal with a PS Plus Premium membership, so you can access even more games beyond those in your own library on PlayStation.

The Portal is cheaper! And you can actually buy it...

The PlayStation Plus Premium point mentioned above is even more pertinent and revealing when you consider the overall price proposition of both devices.

In short, a Portal with a year's worth of PS Plus Premium is still cheaper ($360 / £320) than a Nintendo Switch 2 with no games ($449.99 / £395.99). Therefore, the value proposition right now is a no-brainer.

And that's before you factor in any accessories for the Switch 2 that you'd want to add to optimize that experience, such as the Switch 2 Pro Controller and Switch 2 Camera. Comparatively, the Portal needs no accessories apart from a wired headset or pair of gaming earbuds to complete its setup, really.

And, while we'll have to pretend that the Switch 2 is readily available too at this point, I know, you can actually buy the Portal at the time of writing this article too, which does give it the edge in availability.

Even though the PlayStation Portal is indeed more of a handheld companion rather than a fully-fledged handheld gaming console like the Switch 2, there are a host of reasons why I still prefer it - and these could be the exact same reasons for you too.

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• PlayStation Direct is now offering PlayStation hardware rentals in the UK
• You can lease products like the PS5, PS5 Pro, and even PS Portal
• The Service is provided by Raylo

If you're keen to get your hands on some PlayStation hardware in the UK but can't stomach the upfront cost, then PS Direct might just have the service for you.

Sony's official storefront is now offering leases on a wide range of PlayStation hardware, giving you access to products for a monthly fee.

The seriously pricey PS5 Pro, for example, is available to lease for £26.99 a month if you select a 12-month term. Other options include a 24-month lease at £20.99 a month or a 36-month lease at £18.95 a month. These are fixed-term contracts, but there is also a monthly rolling option which costs £35.59 and can be cancelled at any time.

The PS5 Slim is up for grabs starting at £11.99 a month for a 36-month lease. That's a total cost of £431.64, a little below the console's £479.99 asking price. Just bear in mind that you won't own the system at the end of your term and will either have to return it, continue to pay a rental fee, or contact the company to discuss purchasing it outright.

It's not just consoles on offer either. The usually pricey PS Portal could be yours from £6.49 a month, while the expensive DualSense Edge starts at £7.49 a month. While I personally wouldn't want to rent a fully-fledged console, these premium accessories are much more tempting. I can imagine leasing the PS Portal for a few months to try it out before making a full purchase.

One last thing to note is that these rentals are provided by third-party tech rental service Raylo and will require a soft credit check for a successful application.

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• PlayStation Plus users are now receiving compensation following last month's PSN outage
• After the almost 24-hour outage, Sony promised five additional days of PS Plus to members
• Members should now see the compensation added to their PlayStation accounts

PlayStation Plus subscribers are officially receiving compensation following the PlayStation Network outage last month.

In early February, PSN experienced an almost 24-hour outage, which meant PlayStation users were unable to play games online during this time.

After the issue was resolved, Sony confirmed that this was an "operational issue" with network services. It also announced that all PlayStation Plus members affected would automatically receive an additional five days of service free of charge as compensation, although it didn't say when this was to be issued at the time.

However, according to Push Square, the compensation is now officially rolling out as of March 4.

The publication found that the five days of service have now been added to the expiry date of its last PS Plus Premium payment, meaning other users should now be able to see the same thing on their own accounts.

To check if you've received the free compensation, you'll need to log in to the PS Store and navigate to the 'Subscriptions Management' tab. There you'll be able to see your next payment date and if the date reads five days after your most recent transaction, then the compensation has been added.

The PS Plus lineup for March 2025 has already been announced and includes Sonic Colors: Ultimate, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection, as well as one of the biggest role-playing games (RPG) of 2024, Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

Members will be able to claim these games starting today until March 31, 2025.

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• Sony has announced a permanent PSVR 2 price cut
• The headset will now cost $399.99 / £399.99 down from $549.99 / £529.99
• The Horizon Call of the Mountain bundle will also be that same price, down from $599.99 / £569.99

If you were one of the many PlayStation gamers interested in virtual reality (VR) but put off the PSVR 2 by its almost absurdly high $549.99 / £529.99 price tag, then you're in for a treat.

Sony has announced a new, permanent PSVR 2 price cut taking its retail price all the way down to $399.99 / £399.99 - a mega $150 / £130 discount and close to the massive savings that we saw over the latest Black Friday sales period.

If that wasn't good enough, the PSVR 2 Horizon Call of the Mountain Bundle (which previously cost $599.99 / £569.99) will also be available for that $399.99 / £399.99 price and includes a copy of the Horizon Call of the Mountain game. This honestly sounds like pretty incredible value, especially when you consider the recent release of the PSVR 2 PC Adaptor, which further increases the high spec headset's utility by letting you use it with your PC.

At this price point, the PSVR 2 will be significantly cheaper than the 128GB Meta Quest 3, which comes in at $499.99 / £469.99 and a good middle point between it and the $299.99 / £289.99 price tag of the more budget-oriented Meta Quest 3S.

Although the PSVR 2 hasn't grabbed PlayStation gamers' attention in the way Sony may have wanted, if it had originally launched at this price I think that it would have been a much more popular pick. It still ranks among the best VR headsets right now thanks to stellar performance, so this is a great excuse to take the plunge if you've been on the fence.

According to Sony, the price cut will roll out in March - so expect to see listings updated by the beginning of next week.

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• The PS Plus Monthly Games for March have been revealed
• They include the latest Dragon Age game and Sonic Colors: Ultimate
• They will be available from March 4 to March 31

Big news PlayStation gamers, your PlayStation Plus Monthly Games for March have been revealed and they're some of the strongest we've seen yet.

Soon, PS Plus members will be able to head to the store and claim Dragon Age: The Veilguard for PlayStation 5 at no additional cost. This is honestly pretty incredible and something that I wouldn't have expected as the game only hit shelves four months ago.

It's a very meaty role-playing game (RPG) too, with a roughly 30 hour story and over one hundred hours of content if you want to complete everything. Our Dragon Age: The Veilguard review described it as "uplifted by a compelling cast of supporting characters, an impressively dynamic combat system, and gorgeous environments."

That's an awful lot of value right there, but that's not the only game up for grabs. You will also be able to get Sonic Colors: Ultimate for PlayStation 4 (also playable on PS5 via backwards compatibility), a remastered version of the fan-favorite Sonic game. It's not the longest experience out there as you launch through levels at high speeds (my playthrough clocked in at just over six hours in total), but it is highly replayable if you want to chase high scores.

Luckily, you will be able to dive into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection once the credits roll too, as this is the third game free to claim this month. As the name would suggest, this is a retro collection with thirteen Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games. Although not quite a remaster, the games have been updated with modern quality of life features like the ability to save whenever you want and a rewind function. The offer includes both a PS5 and PS4 version, so owners of either console will be able to play.

All three games will be available on March 4 and run until March 31, so make sure to mark your calendars. If you don't yet own a PS Plus subscription and don't want to miss out, you can see the very best prices in your region below.

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• Sony has announced changes to PS Plus
• From January 2026, monthly PS4 games will no longer be regularly offered on the service
• Fewer PS4 games will also come to the Game Catalog

Sony has announced some changes to its PlayStation Plus subscription service, cutting down on the number of monthly PS4 titles that will be offered in the future.

As explained on a recent post to the PS Blog, Sony has noticed that “many” players are “currently playing on PS5 and have shifted toward redeeming and accessing PS5 titles from the Monthly Games and Game Catalog benefit.”

As a result, PS Plus will be “evolving with this trend” and focus more heavily on offering monthly PS5 games and adding more PS5 titles to the Game Catalog.

This shift will not occur straight away, though, and is set to begin in January 2026. Sony notes that it “may still provide titles that can be playable on both PS4 and PS5” after that date, but I would expect the number to be drastically reduced.

The blog post rounds things off by stating that the company will “continue to evolve the experience of PS Plus and optimize the benefits you receive” and looks “forward to adding new PS5 titles monthly for you to enjoy.”

This is definitely a shame, though it’s not difficult to understand why this decision was made. The PS5 was released in November 2024, so has been on the market for almost five years now. The PS4, in contrast, came out in November 2013 so is more than a decade old. Although many gamers are still hanging on to their old machines, offering benefits for those on such a dated console so far into its successor’s life would be quite strange.

For the PS4 players out there, this might finally be the push you need to consider an upgrade. To pick up a PS Plus membership for less, be sure to visit our guide to the cheapest PlayStation Plus deals. To learn more about its various benefits, see our comprehensive PS Plus Tiers explained page.

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• Monster Hunter Wilds is getting a second beta test in February
• A new hunt is being added alongside access to all content from the first beta test
• Character creation data will transfer to the second playtest

Mark your calendars, hunters; Monster Hunter Wilds is getting a second open beta test ahead of release.

This was confirmed today (January 8), via a post on the official Monster Hunter Wilds X / Twitter account. In a video attached to the post, series producer Ryozo Tsujimoto goes over the details of the second open beta test, including what's featured in it and when you can play it.

First up, the 'Open Beta Test 2' for Monster Hunter Wilds will be split into two phases. The first is happening from February 6 - February 9, with the second taking place a few days later between February 13 - February 16.

The beta will be available to download for free on PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S and PC via Steam. Crossplay will be enabled for the open playtest, and players won't need a PS Plus or Game Pass Core subscription in order to play online with others on console, which is a lovely bonus.

As for what's featured in the beta, players will be able to access all content from the first playtest. That includes character creation, a segment of the main story, and a quest to slay the new Doshaguma monster. A new hunt to take down returning monster Gypceros has also been added.

Tsujimoto also confirms that character creation data from the first open beta will carry over to the second for both your hunter and their Palico companion. This can also be transferred over to the full game upon its February 28 release. Participants in the second beta will also receive a cute Palico weapon charm for the full game.

Lastly, Tsujimoto states that development for the finished version of Monster Hunter Wilds has been completed. However, he does make it clear that any changes and improvements based on feedback from the first beta won't be featured in the second. "This includes various adjustments and improvements," he said, "but I hope you can understand that this means those improvements won't be ready to make it into the second beta test."

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• PlayStation Classics porters Implicit Conversions is "dreaming about" PS3 emulation - potentially for PS5
• That's according to the developer's roadmap
• PS3 games are currently only available via cloud streaming on PS5

Retro game port developer Implicit Conversions appears to be looking into proper PS3 emulation - likely for the PlayStation Classics collection available via PS Plus on PS5.

That's according to the developer's roadmap which was spotted over at the r/GamingLeaksandRumours subreddit (via VGC).

The Trello-esque roadmap has a section on the far left labeled 'Dreaming About' and this is where we see a card for the "Researching and prototyping the possibility of a PlayStation 3 emulator package for Syrup." Syrup being the developer's own emulation engine with which it brings classic games to modern hardware.

As it stands, PS3 games are playable on PS5, but only via cloud game streaming. This often leads to a less than optimal play experience especially for folk without speedy internet connections. At present, it is the only Sony console generation that doesn't have some form of native support on PS5, as PS4 and a collection of PS1 and PS2 games can be downloaded on the system.

It's a shame, too, as there's no shortage of excellent PS3 games that remain exclusive to the console without any form of re-release. That includes Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Motorstorm, Resistance: Fall of Man, Tokyo Jungle and - one of my personal faves - Ridge Racer 7.

Just to keep expectations in check, we shouldn't be expecting PS3 emulation on PS5 anytime soon. Implicit Conversions has it in a unique 'dreaming about' tab separate from an 'in progress' tab on its roadmap which means the tech likely isn't in active development.

Still, the fact the roadmap is available for public viewing is a bit of a silver lining in all this. It does at least show that those responsible for porting classic games to modern hardware do have PS3 emulation on the radar, and they're likely aware of the demand. It probably won't happen for a good few years, though.

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• PS Plus's monthly free games for January are coming soon
• Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered, and The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe head the lineup
• They'll be available across every PS Plus tier from January 7

The PS Plus free games for January have been officially revealed, and it's looking like a pretty strong start to the year for the subscription service.

Announced via the official PlayStation Blog, January's PS Plus monthly games are headlined by Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered, and The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe. The three games will be available to download from January 7 across all three PS Plus tiers.

Subscribers currently have until January 6 to download and keep December's monthly offerings, which are It Takes Two, Aliens: Dark Descent and, Temtem.

While Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League didn't do much to impress upon launch - with an exhausting live service model and heavily repetitive gameplay - it's still worth checking out for free this month as the now content-complete version of the game offers plenty to do. It's also deeply discounted at the PlayStation Store's January sale if you'd prefer to acquire the game that way.

Meanwhile, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered is an absolute must-play. This is arguably Criterion's best work since the Burnout series and much of that DNA translates over to Hot Pursuit. With two campaigns that pit cops and racers against each other, it's a thrilling experience and certainly one of the best racing games of recent memory.

Finally there's The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe, a comedic game that offers some brilliant, thoughtful commentary on the nature of video game storytelling and the legacies great games leave behind. It's a very relaxed experience but definitely one worth checking out if you fancy a good, hearty laugh in tandem with an unforgettable and endlessly creative narrative journey.

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Now here's a great deal if you're currently scrambling for a last-minute PlayStation gaming gift. Right now loads of PS Store gift cards are discounted over at Currys thanks to discount code DIGITAL15, which can save you 15% on select digital gift cards.

I would definitely most highly recommend the £70 gift card, which comes in at just £59.50 (was £70) at Currys with discount code DIGITAL15 applied at checkout. That's a £10.50 saving and will give the recipient more than enough digital cash to pick up a brand new top game or a selection of things on sale.

If you want the largest possible savings, then pick up the £120 gift card, which is just £102 (was £120 ) at Currys with discount code DIGITAL15. This is a pretty hefty sum but, at £18 off, gives you a good way to top up your wallet ahead of 2025 for less.

Read on for a breakdown of even more of the options available today...

Don't miss PS Store gift card savings

Wondering what exactly you're getting for your cash here? These are digital gift cards, which are delivered in a few minutes as digital codes.

You can use them yourself, or copy them down into a card if you want to send them as a physical gift. Like any digital gift card, speed is definitely a big part of the appeal here - as there's no need to wait for any long festive delivery times.

These codes are compatible with the whole store so no matter if you, or the recipient, play on PlayStation 5 or PlayStation 4, you'll be covered.

If you're not in the UK, check the list below to find all the best rates on PS Plus subscriptions in your region.

• PlayStation has officially announced its Black Friday 2024 sales, deals, and discounts
• They begin tomorrow (November 22) and end on Cyber Monday
• There will be big discounts for PSVR 2, DualSense controllers, PS Plus, and more

PlayStation's official Black Friday sales are starting soon, and it's arguably the company's best yet especially if you're in the market for a certain VR headset.

Announced via the official PlayStation Blog, its Black Friday sales kick off tomorrow (November 22) and will last all the way up to Cyber Monday on December 2. They'll include a wide range of savings on hardware, software, and even PS Plus subscription time. The deals also seem to line up with a Dealabs post from reliable leaker billbil-kun which went up a few days ago.

The bulk of hardware deals will be available to browse and purchase at PlayStation Direct and a number of participating retailers. That'll likely include Amazon as well as Best Buy and Walmart in the US as well as Argos and potentially Currys in the UK.

Undoubtedly the headline discount here is for PSVR 2, which the blog post confirms will receive up to a massive 40% off. If that includes the Horizon: Call of the Mountain bundle then it'll be unmissable for PlayStation stalwarts who've yet to pick up the headset for themselves.

There's also going to be up to 25% off DualSense Wireless Controller colorways, the PlayStation Pulse Elite headset, Pulse Explore buds, and even PS5 console covers. Naturally, the PlayStation Store on console will also host a tirade of excellent savings on video games. It'll likely be the best time of year to purchase some of the best PS5 games for much, much less.

PS Plus is also set to receive a huge 30% discount on 12-month memberships - massive news for anyone who's wanted to get into that Premium tier for less. Existing members can also save up to 30% when upgrading their PS Plus tier from Essential to Extra, or Extra to Premium.

At TechRadar Gaming, we'll be keeping you updated with all the best Black Friday PS5 deals and Black Friday PS5 Pro deals as they happen. We have a feeling that PSVR 2 will absolutely fly off the shelves now that it'll be available at a significantly reduced price. So be sure to keep PlayStation Direct and your favorite retailers bookmarked if you want to get your hands on one.

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• Cloud Streaming has come to the PlayStation Portal via a firmware update
• It's in beta form for now, but grants access to over 120 PS5 games
• Portal owners will also need to be PS Plus Premium subscribers

The latest PlayStation Portal firmware update has finally added a feature that many owners have wanted since launch: cloud streaming.

The update is detailed in an official PlayStation Blog post, where vice president of product management Hiromi Wakai explains that cloud streaming is available on PlayStation Portal now in beta form.

Just like on PS5, Portal owners will also need to be PS Plus Premium subscribers to take advantage of cloud streaming, which is rolling out in today's firmware update. Players will have access to over 120 games via cloud streaming, including Ghost of Tsushima, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Monster Hunter Rise, and much more.

Cloud streaming on PlayStation Portal targets 1080p 60fps, and Sony recommends internet speeds of at least 13 Mbps to achieve this. However, players on slower connections should still be able to access games in 720p with at least 7 Mbps.

The cloud streaming feature, which also includes up to 100GB of cloud storage for save data, can be enabled via the Settings menu on the PlayStation Portal. Simply toggle the 'Cloud Streaming (Beta)' option as it's going to be off by default. This should add a new cloud streaming option to your handheld's Home dashboard.

There are some limitations to note, however. Players currently can't stream PS4 or PS3 games, nor can they stream games purchased from the PlayStation Store. The same goes for party chat and PS Plus game trials, which are also unavailable. This is likely because the feature is still in beta, and these options will hopefully be implemented down the line.

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Black Friday PS Plus deals are always one of the most desired discounts that we PlayStation gamers want every year. And right now, these deals at Amazon might well be the best we get this year.

Getting right to it, Amazon Prime members can save 10 percent on a range of PlayStation gift cards from $10 all the way up to $250.

These discounts are particularly good as early Black Friday PS5 deals given that they can immediately become Black Friday PS Plus deals if you use the credit to stock up on the membership. A $75 card, for example, now priced at $67.50 at Amazon, will get you almost a full year's worth of PS Plus Essential.

This gift card deal will also cover you for the cost of a full-price game as well if that's what you're after. Going even bigger, if you wanted to save 10 percent on a year's worth of PS Plus Premium, then you can almost do that in one hit with the discounted $150 PS gift card now going for $135 at Amazon.

Those are only a couple of ideas, and you'll find links to each level of card below. Remember though, you'll have to be an Amazon Prime member to get access to these deals - luckily you may well be eligible for a 30-day free trial so that's definitely worth checking out.

Today's best early Black Friday PS Plus deals

If you're not an Amazon Prime member, or in the US, then check out our auto-updating price-finding tech below as it will show you the latest lowest prices on PlayStation Gift Cards wherever you are in the world.

PlayStation's Days of Play event is bringing a whole bunch of PSVR 2 games to PS Plus Premium next month. On top of that, the service will debut a PS2 classics catalog starting with a trio of titles.

The news comes from an official PlayStation Blog post that went live today (May 28), detailing what PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 owners can expect from the Days of Play event which begins on May 29. The event kicks off with a variety of themed PS Plus avatars that subscribers can download from the official PS Plus web page.

From June 6, PS Plus Premium subscribers will be able to download full versions of five PSVR 2 games at no extra cost. These are Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord, Walkabout Mini Golf, Synth Riders, Before Your Eyes, and The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners - Chapters 1 & 2 (crikey, that's a mouthful). Of course, these will only be playable if you own a PSVR 2 headset.

Furthermore, Sony will debut a PS2 classics catalog on June 11, also for PS Plus Premium subscribers. There will only be three games available at launch: Tomb Raider Legend, Star Wars: The Clone Wars as well as the first Sly Cooper game. Hopefully, we'll see a greater volume of native PS2 games reach the service from here on out; I'm personally holding out hope for Ridge Racer 5 and Dynasty Warriors 3.

PS Plus Premium is the priciest option in Sony's three-tier subscription service, currently costing $17.99 / £13.49 per month or $159.99 / £119.99 annually. It's a pretty steep price compared to other online subscription services, but these latest additions should go a fair way to adding some much-needed value to PS Plus.

Elsewhere, the Days of Play event will also bring some discounts to PlayStation hardware so stay tuned for deals and price cuts on some top gear.

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PlayStation is removing Horizon Zero Dawn from its PlayStation Plus catalog later this month. 

According to the game's official store page, which was first spotted by a Reddit user and later verified by Eurogamer, Guerrilla Games' open-world action-adventure game will leave PS Plus on May 21.

This applies to the Horizon Zero Dawn: Complete Edition, in particular, which features the game's Frozen Wilds expansion, meaning users will have only a few weeks to grab the offer before it is gone for good.

The decision for Sony to remove one of PlayStation's major headlining games from the subscription service does seem odd, however, the move only reinforces the ongoing rumors that Guerrilla Games is gearing up to announce a PlayStation 5 remaster of the 2017 title.

Rumors of a PS5 remaster first began in October 2022 via VGC, who reported that the current-gen version was in development, alongside a new multiplayer game in the series. 

The PS5 remaster is said to include improved visuals and feature overhauled textures, improved animations, and higher-fidelity character models, as well as more accessibility options, performance upgrades, and quality-of-life improvements - much like its 2022 sequel Horizon: Forbidden West.

Although the PS4 version of Horizon Zero Dawn can be played on PS5 with the 60FPS update, the PS5 has yet to see a native version. The game also received a PC launch in 2020 and was the first major PlayStation exclusive to make the jump.

With the Summer Games Fest and a litany of other special events coming up within the next few months, it's possible an announcement from Sony about the PS5 version could arrive soon.

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PS Plus Extra subscribers hoping to download the Fallout 4 free current-gen update have been left disappointed, after finding that the upgraded version hasn't been applied to the subscription service. Instead, those who have downloaded the game from the PS Plus game catalog are stuck with the previous-gen version.

As reported by GameSpot, Fallout 4 players took to social media to warn others that the current-gen PS5 update has yet to be applied to the PS Plus Extra download. However, developer Bethesda Game Studios is aware of the problem, and took to X / Twitter to address the issue.

"We've seen some confusion regarding the free Fallout 4 next-gen update for PlayStation Plus Extra members," the post begins. "The Fallout 4 next-gen update will be available to PlayStation Plus Extra members through the PlayStation Game Catalog. Your patience is appreciated while the teams work on this."

As of now, Bethesda Game Studios hasn't provided a concrete date or time as to when the fix will be implemented, though we imagine it shouldn't be overly long before PS5 players can enjoy the free update.

There's potentially worse news, however, for players who downloaded Fallout 4 via PS Plus Essentials (the monthly rotating free game service) or the now-defunct PS Plus Collection – they might not get the update at all. 

In response to a question in the original post's replies, the official Bethesda Support account posted: "Fallout 4's Next-Gen Update will be available for PS Plus Extra members. We do not have any information regarding PS5 Catalogue or PS Plus Essentials."

It hasn't exactly been smooth sailing for the Fallout 4 free update on other platforms, either. While the game has been successfully patched on Xbox Series X|S and PC, Xbox players are reporting that the update has broken modded saves, and some mods available via the in-game mod menu have stopped working outright. 

What's more, the PC version doesn't seem to play nice with F4SE (Fallout 4 Script Extender), a mod widely considered to be essential for adding larger-scale creations to the game.

It's all a bit of shame given the renewed interest in the game following the massive success of the Fallout TV show on Prime Video. For more on the show, check out our interview with Todd Howard, in which he explains the reasoning behind some of the big changes made to bring the game to a streaming audience.

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The games joining the PS Plus roster for March have been revealed, and there are four new titles coming if you've got an active subscription. Sifu, Hello Neighbour 2, EA Sports F1 23, and Destiny 2: The Witch Queen are set to arrive on the service on March 5. This also means it's time to say goodbye to the last batch as well. 

You'll have until April 1 to claim the free titles coming to PS Plus in March. Sifu, Hello Neighbour 2, and Destiny 2: The Witch Queen are all worthwhile additions, covering a variety of genres like horror, FPS, and character action. And even though EA Sports FC 23 isn't exactly a narrative-driven showcase, it still offers an annual slice of sporting fun to players who want a break from all the action. 

However, March's PS Plus line-up isn't exclusive to just games this time around. A bunch of great PS5 games aside, any players of The Finals will also have access to an exclusive bundle containing two epic outfits and 12 weapon skins for the game. This bundle will also be available for download alongside this month's PS Plus games, and once downloaded will show up in-game for you to equip. 

And if you're yet to make the most of February's line-up, there are still a few days left for you to download Foamstars, Rollerdrome, and Steelrising. These games will be officially removed from the service on March 4, so it's worth downloading while you still can before it's time to make way for an all-new array of games. 

We've got a guide to all the best PS5 exclusives if you're looking to make the most of your console. However, it's also worth checking out our general list of the best PS5 games as some unmissable adventures are waiting there as well. 

The latest game published by Square Enix, Foamstars is a colorful party shooter available exclusively on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4. Included with a PlayStation Plus membership as a free monthly game from launch until March 5, 2024, the handful of interesting multiplayer mechanics on show might make it worth downloading if you’re a current PS Plus subscriber with literally nothing else to play.

It is simply impossible to recommend Foamstars in any other context though, as there is very little here to justify more than about an hour of your time at most. A lack of modes and maps lets down the PvP matches, while the unremittingly dull single-player missions are frankly painful to sit through. The PvE mode fairs a little better, with some unique power-ups to discover, but it is ultimately still far too repetitive to maintain interest.

To make matters worse, the game is awash with monetization, including a battle pass and shockingly expensive costume packs. Although this would be far more forgivable in a free-to-play title, it’s hard to imagine a future where the Foamstars bubble doesn’t pop once it fully transitions into a paid product.

 Fear and foaming

Set in the neon-lit city of Bath Vegas, Foamstars is at its best when you’re competing in its fast-paced PvP matches. As a contestant in the Foamsmash, you’re armed with a surfboard and a foam-powered weapon that spews brightly colored bubbles across the screen. These bubbles damage enemies, lathering them up until they enter a vulnerable ‘Foamed Up’ state where they can be ‘chilled’ (the game’s rather patronizing term for an elimination) with a quick hit from your surfboard.

Your streams also coat nearby environments with a bouncy layer of team-colored foam, providing some cover, a small degree of vertical elevation, and, far more significantly, the ability to slide around on your surfboard at a greatly enhanced speed. Foam from the other team, in contrast, hinders your movement by slowing your surfing down to a crawl. Given their mechanical similarities, the comparisons between the foam in Foamstars and the ink in Splatoon seem almost inevitable. 

Still, Foamstars contains some more unique ideas that help set it apart. For starters, Foamstars features a line-up of intriguing hero characters with their own distinct weapons and abilities. There’s a solid variety in the current roster of eight heroes, from the close-range dual pistol-wielding speedster Soa to the foam stream-spewing Rave Breaker. They all have very distinct, eye-catching designs and getting to grips with their unique quirks is surprisingly engaging. 

My personal favorite of the bunch was Mel T, an adorable dessert-themed contestant who packs a powerful homing missile launcher. Sticking to the sidelines and foaming up opponents from a safe distance was a pleasant change of pace. Foaming up your opponents before smashing them out with your board has an enjoyable rhythm, but the bright colors and fast movement can make the action hard to follow in particularly hectic moments.

 Hold the foam

It’s unfortunate, as matches in Foamstars use a very condensed 4v4 format that, in theory, should make things more easily understandable. There are three PvP modes available right now: Smash the Star, Happy Bath Survival, and Rubber Duck Party. Rubber Duck Party is a basic objective-based mode in which teams fight for control of racing a rubber duck - with the winning team successfully getting the duck to the finish line the fastest. 

Smash the Star, on the other hand, is a bizarre take on a team deathmatch that sees the highest performing player named the star player. The first team to lose a star player is defeated, and keeping your star protected makes for quite a tense team-based challenge. Happy Bath Survival switches things up entirely by placing two players from each team outside of the arena, supporting their teammates with showers of colored foam. It takes place over a maximum of three rounds, with the team to win the most declared victor.

Happy Bath Survival is definitely the most engaging, but, unfortunately, matches in all three modes can feel extremely brief and often only last for a couple of minutes. While this does prevent them from ever seeming like a drag, being repeatedly booted back out into the small hub area in order to sit through a lengthy queue for a new game soon becomes grating. 

It also pushes some of the more flagrant attempts at monetization to the forefront, with one of the few hub activities being staring at the various costume packs, some of which are priced at the almost comically high price tag of $44.99 / £36.99, available in the in-game store. 

The fact there are only three PvP modes in total is also a shame. There are just a few very basic maps to master,  which immediately detracts from the replayability of each mode. With the sole exception of a refreshingly unique casino-inspired map that features a giant spinning roulette wheel, the barrage of plain arenas quickly begins to blend into one.

Outside of PvP, there are also 18 single-player Foamstar missions to tackle. They each focus on different characters, but all follow the same laughably simple format in which successive waves of dull enemies slowly advance towards an unstable reactor in a literal straight line in a bland, boxy environment.

Irritating, awkwardly written dialogue plays out almost constantly while this is occurring and, aside from the odd appearance of a charming illustration and one highly concerning moment that seems to suggest the game’s foam is in fact a bodily fluid secreted by one of the characters, it all feels like pointless filler.

There are also incremental upgrades that can be bought using currency earned from each successful mission, but its benefits are so minor that the whole system can be safely ignored entirely. The online PvE mode thankfully fares better, as it brings three other players into the equation and introduces a much more engaging upgrade system that sees more substantial buffs awarded between waves. These range from small stat improvements to extra projectiles and even turrets, which, while nothing particularly special, mercifully reduces the sense of monotony to a more tolerable level.

On the whole, while the PvP component does have a few things to offer, I can only hope that future seasonal content updates will go some way to help bring the rest of the package up to par. Foamstars is, as it stands, a huge disappointment and a real waste of that multiplayer potential.

If you’re craving more games to play, see our guides to the best free games or the best FPS games for some top picks. 

In some pretty major news for the foam fandom, developer and publisher Square Enix has announced a release date for the upcoming frothy 4v4 party shooter Foamstars.

Confirmed in a recent press release, Foamstars is set to launch for the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 on February 6, 2024. At launch the game will be available to download and play for free to all PlayStation Plus members as part of the PS Plus monthly lineup.

If you are a PS Plus subscriber, you will have the chance to redeem it until March 4, 2024. It will then be made available to purchase for $29.99 on March 5, 2024 but will still require an active PS Plus subscription to play. A new trailer has been released alongside the reveal of a release date, which you can watch below:

After launch, Foamstars will receive seasonal updates featuring optional battle-pass style season passes which will allow players to progress through reward tiers for additional items by completing missions. These will cost $5.99 each and provide those who choose to purchase them immediate access to newly added characters.

For anyone who is not already fully wrapped up in the hype and might need a quick refresher, Foamstars is a 4v4 party shooter that very much seems to be a different take on the Splatoon formula. Coming exclusively to PS5 and PS4, it features PvP multiplayer modes that challenge teams to coat various arenas with foam and defeat their opponents. Set in the soapy city of Bath Vegas, all of the action is all part of a fictional competition called the Foamsmash.

The game is confirmed to include both team-based PvP and co-op PvE modes, including the option to play randomized Squad Missions either alone or with others, which sounds like a fairly hefty amount of content to get to grips with out of the gate.

If you don't already have an active PS Plus subscription and don't want to miss out on the foamy fun, see our guide to the cheapest PlayStation Plus deals or below for the best deals in your region:

For more on PlayStation games, see our guides to the best PS5 games or the best free games.

Sony has officially confirmed the selection of monthly free games available for PlayStation Plus subscribers in October 2023, and one of 2022’s goriest horror titles, The Callisto Protocol, is included, just in time for Halloween.

From Tuesday, October 3 to Monday, November 6, those subscribed to any tier of PS Plus will be able to add The Callisto Protocol, Farming Simulator 22 and Weird West to their game libraries at no extra cost. Once claimed, they’ll be able to download and play the three titles at any time, as long as they’re still an active PS Plus member. 

While The Callisto Protocol didn’t release to overwhelmingly positive reviews, there’s no doubt that it’s very visually impressive - even the eyeballs in it have ray-traced reflections, which is a small but impactful detail. 

Speaking of The Callisto Protocol, it was confirmed last week that creator Glen Schofield has decided to leave Striking Distance Studios to "pursue new opportunities", a move which he described as “bittersweet”. This follows recent staffing reductions at the studio - it was reported in August that 32 employees had been laid off.

As for October’s other PS Plus games, Farming Simulator 22 is, as the name suggests, a farm sim game which allows players to tend to animals, grow and harvest crops, and generally get stuck into farming life and its challenges over the different seasons. Meanwhile, Weird West is a dark fantasy reimagining of the Wild West in a sandbox world, developed by Devolver Digital.

If you’ve not already grabbed this month’s lineup of PlayStation Plus games, there’s still time to do so. Active subscribers have until Monday, October 2 to add Saints Row (2022), Generation Zero and Black Desert - Traveler Edition to their library.

Be sure to check out our list of the best PS5 games for more gaming recommendations. You can also read our roundup of the best free games for some brilliant titles that you don’t have to spend a penny on. 

PS Plus is a fantastic way to continue making the most of your PS5. For a new console owner, it can be a great way to pick up some games you may not initially think to grab while you get set up. Still, it can be a pretty confusing space to navigate the PS Plus Tiers and levels of membership if you don’t really understand the service, and whether or not it’s worth investigating. 

Similar to Xbox Game Pass, PS Plus offers players a subscription-based service that offers several perks to enhance their experience with the console, including the ability to stream games via the Cloud, and also a pretty hefty list of PS Plus free games that are included in the subscription fee. 

However, there are several PS Plus tiers to choose from, each offering various perks, so it’s worth doing some research into what each tier offers, how much you should expect to be paying for them, and whether or not you can find any PS Plus deals, We’ve broken it down so you’ll know exactly what to expect from PS Plus and can start making a decision as to which tier is worth investing in for you.

PS Plus Tiers - explainer

There are three tiers to get to grips with when it comes to a PS Plus subscription and you will want to know the benefits of all to guarantee a worthy investment. Each of the tiers offers a variety of perks, including access to some of the best PS5 games and best PS4 games, but as you can imagine the price begins to climb depending on which tier you settle on. To make the information more digestible, we’ve broken down each tier and detailed exactly what they offer you.  

As of September 6, the three tiers of PS Plus have increased in price for 12-month subscriptions, which is why it’s more important than ever to know which service exactly you’re paying for. Although the monthly subscription has remained the same, the increase in 12-month subscriptions is incredibly important to note since it’s still the best way to save money on your subscription despite the price increase. 

When subscribing to your desired service, you will be asked whether you wish to pay monthly, quarterly, or yearly, and while it states how much you will be charged as you initiate a subscription, it’s nice to know before you go in just how much money you should expect to spend.

A notable shift, however, is the method of paying for PS Plus. Whereas there used to be dedicated, pre-loaded PS Plus cards and codes, you now have to buy PS Store credit separately in order to add to your PS account balance, to then buy PS Plus subscriptions. It essentially added another step or layer and removed those dedicated cards from the equation. For clarity, we’ve detailed the breakdown of each tier and their individual charges below as well as given some quick fire links to PS credit that should cover each annual cost.

PS Plus Tiers - Essential

The PS Plus Essential tier is the most basic of the bunch and is a pretty straight reskin of the PS Plus service prior to the introduction of tiers. It's simple but it remains the most affordable and still offers a number of perks worth considering if you need something a little more out of your console.

• Online multiplayer access
• Monthly downloadable games (usually three)
• Exclusive discounts
• Cloud storage for game saves

In terms of price, the PS Plus Essential tier is the lowest financial commitment of the bunch. It's not much different per month than subscribing to Xbox Game Pass, and when you factor in the perks listed above, it starts to pay for itself. Plus, if you've been subscribed to PS Plus prior to the introduction of tiers, you'll already be familiar with the benefits and value this level offers.  

• $9.99 monthly / $24.99 quarterly / $79.99 yearly
• £6.99 monthly / £19.99 quarterly / £59.99 yearly
• AU$11.95 monthly / AU$33.95 quarterly / AU$95.95 yearly

PS Plus Tiers - Extra

The Extra Tier features all the perks from the Essential tier, but is a little step up, offering a larger catalogue of games for you to jump into to give it that extra little bit of edge. It's slightly more expensive but is well worth considering if you immediately want to access more content on your console.  

• Provides all the benefits from the Essential tier
• Adds a catalogue of up to 400 PS4 and PS5 games – including blockbuster hits from PlayStation Studios catalogue and third-party partners

On paper, it doesn't seem like the Extra tier is that big of a step up in comparison to the PS Plus Essential tier, but it does offer a more in-depth catalog of games to sift through from the get-go rather than only limiting what you get to a couple of games per month. Its content is reflected within its price, which only slightly increases from the base tier, but it's still worth considering if you want a little more bang for your buck. 

• $14.99 monthly / $39.99 quarterly / $134.99 yearly
• £10.99 monthly / £31.99 quarterly / £99.99 yearly 
• AU$18 monthly / AU$54.95 quarterly / AU$169.95 yearly

PS Plus Tiers - Premium

For someone who uses the PS5 as their primary console, the Premium PS Plus tier ticks all the boxes. It offers all the features from the above tiers while still building upon it and offers even more. Of course, due to just how much it includes, you should expect to pay slightly more for the service, but you'll be getting your money's worth within its high-quality offerings. 

• Provides all the benefits from Essential and Extra tiers
• A catalog of beloved classic games available that can be streamed (on a PS5, PS4, or PC) or downloaded from the original PlayStation, PS2, and PSP generations.
• Time-limited game trials
• Up to 340 additional games to the library
• PS3 games available via cloud streaming

The PS Plus Premium Tier marks where things start to become slightly more expensive, and although it feels like a more significant investment, you are making the very most out of the service alongside your console as a whole. For subscribers based in New Zealand and Australia, a separate service titled PS Plus Deluxe takes the role of PS Plus Premium. More details on this can be found in the section below the following prices.

• $17.99 monthly / $49.99 quarterly / $159.99 yearly
• £13.49 monthly / £39.99 quarterly / £119.99 yearly 

PS Plus Tiers - Deluxe

In addition to these three central tiers, there is a “PS Plus Deluxe” tier which is regionally exclusive to Australia and New Zealand since Cloud Gaming is not supported. This tier essentially contains the same features as the Essential and the Extra tier combined, while also offering a catalog of classic PlayStation, PS2, and PSP games alongside some limited-time game trials. 

The price of this tier is essentially the AUD/NZD value of the PS Plus Premium tier, so you won't be paying any more or any less than those subscribed to Premium, and you'll still have access to most of the same perks minus the ability to stream via the Cloud. The price breakdown for PS Plus Deluxe is below: 

• AU$21.95 monthly / AU$63 quarterly / AU$154.95 yearly
• NZ$27.95 monthly / NZ$82.95 quarterly / NZ$250.95 yearly

PS Plus tiers - FAQs

Which PS Plus tier or membership is the best value?

This is a superb question and likely comes down to the amount of time you personally can commit to playing games and whether a PS5 or PS4 is your main (perhaps sole) platform.

While the Premium tier offers the most 'stuff', we think you'd need a whole lot of time to commit to it all and get the most out of it - and you'd need to be a big fan of the PS1 and classic games that Sony has put on there (which has had a middling reaction from the fanbase, generally). If you have a long-term interest in PlayStation games, however, this might well represent great value for money.

At the other end of spectrum, if you only manage to play a small handful of games every month and need to get online to play casually with buddies, then its hard to look past and not recommend sticking with the Essential membership. It's the simplest one and gets you all you need.

The Extra tier could be a sweet spot for many though - especially those without
existing, burgeoning PS4 and PS5 game libraries. The access that the Extra tier gives you to hundreds of PS4 and PS5 games is a brilliant selling-point of the middle-tier and might offer exceptional value if you can dedicate time to games.

Sony has officially confirmed the line-up of monthly games that PlayStation Plus subscribers will be able to download and keep as part of their subscription in September 2023. Active subscribers will be able to claim Saints Row (2023), Black Desert -Traveler Edition and Generation Zero.

Subscribers will be able to claim the three games from Tuesday, September 5, and have until Monday, October 2 to do so. Black Desert - Traveler Edition and Generation Zero are both PS4 games, but both the PS4 and PS5 versions of the action-adventure Saints Row are being offered. 

In her review, TechRadar Gaming’s staff writer, Cat Bussell, gave the 2023 Saints Row reboot three and a half stars out of five. Although she praised its “quippy dialogue” and “over-the-top combat worthy of a WWE title fight”, she criticized its opening section and tonal whiplash.

As per a news post on the PlayStation Blog, Generation Zero is an open-world adventure “set in a familiar but hostile open world of 1980s Sweden”. Players can duke it out against dangerous machines either alone or with up to three friends in online co-op. 

Meanwhile, Black Desert – Traveler Edition is a fantasy MMORPG which includes “fast-paced PvE combat, large-scale PvP siege wars, multiple character classes and combat types to specialize in”. Specifically, the Traveler Edition includes The Traveler Item Pack as an add-on, as well as the base game.

As for the August PS Plus Essential games (which are Death’s Door, Dreams, and PGA Tour 2K23), subscribers have until September 4 to claim them. Once claimed, you can download and play them at any time as long as you have an active PS Plus subscription.

If you’re an avid PlayStation gamer and are looking for something new to play, you can read our roundup of the best PS5 games for some recommendations. Meanwhile, if you want to know what releases are on the horizon, you can check out our list of new PS5 games.

In a rare turn of events, the retro RPG Sea of Stars will be launching day one on both PS Plus and Xbox Game Pass. 

One of the best games of June 2023's Steam Next Fest, Sea of Stars, will launch on August 29 on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. It will also be available for free on PS Plus and Xbox Game Pass for those who are subscribed to the services. 

It's pretty rare to see a game make a debut first day on both streaming services, in part thanks to Sony's picky nature. Sony hardly ever releases game day on its subscription service. As it stands, the only titles that have been included in PS Plus as part of its release have been Stray and Tchia. 

"We're extremely excited to confirm that Sea of Stars will be joining the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog (available for all Extra and Premium members) on launch day", level designer at Sabotage Studio, Philippe Dionne, said in a blog post. "It’s incredible for us to imagine how many more players worldwide will experience Sea of Stars and join the conversation around our project."

If you want to give this RPG a go now, then you can access its demo and have a look for yourself. It's currently accessible on PS5 and PS4, among other platforms. 

"The demo features areas that will be part of the final game, but we made sure to pick a slice that did not reveal any major spoilers from the main story. It is designed to give a hint of context but mostly showcases some gameplay systems and mechanics around dungeon crawling and combat. It aims to provide a sense of the tone and vibe without giving away major points of the journey."

If you're a fan of RPGs and are looking for something to fill the time before diving into a Sea of Stars, then check out our best RPG games for even more fun. 

Sony has just announced that it's begun testing PS5 game cloud streaming for PS Plus Premium members.

That means you'll soon be able to play many of the best PS5 games without having to download them. Though, the official PlayStation Blog post notes this will only be for "supported" PS5 games, likely indicating some won't make the cut when the feature launches.

Sony didn't say when PS5 game streaming will launch, but confirmed it will be available exclusively to PS Plus subscribers on the Premium tier, and that testing is in "the early stages right now." Don't expect the feature to launch anytime soon, then.

The announcement post notes that cloud streaming will be available for games in PS Plus's game catalog and game trials libraries, as well as some digital PS5 games that already exist in your collection.

When PS5 cloud streaming launches for PS Plus Premium members, those games will join the service's library of PS3, PS4 and some classic titles which are already available to stream via the cloud. 

However, we don't yet know what the quality of the overall streaming experience will be for PS5 games. Xbox Cloud Gaming supports up to 1080p at 60fps. Sony will likely match that, especially as its upcoming handheld, Project Q, will support the same for remote play. Hopefully, PS5 game streaming will also be enabled for the Q for an added value proposition.

Stream quality for these games has improved a lot over the years, which hopefully means it'll be further tightened up by the time we get the PS5 cloud streaming update. It'll need to be as solid as Sony can possibly make it, too, especially when dealing with massive titles like Horizon: Forbidden West and Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut.

I appreciate that cloud streaming will also be available to games already in our libraries, potentially separate from PS Plus's game catalog. That means if we don't quite have the storage space to install an old favorite, we can instead stream the game to get our fix without having to download the game.

PlayStation Plus free games change at the start of every month, and coming in at no extra cost to PS Plus members, these free games are a great way to expand your library on the cheap or pick up and try games that you might not have thought about initially.

More often than not, you'll have three games to try out with each month's drop - which covers both PS5 and PS4 (so you're still set if you haven't jumped into the latest generation yet) - though sometimes we see some curveballs in the form of one or two fewer or more games.

If you are a subscriber and don't make the most of the free games on offer from month to month, it's worth making it a habit to start claiming them when you can, since they'll always be available to you as long as your subscription is live. Since the best PS5 games can set you back a pretty penny, this is a great way to make the most of your console without having to fork out for new releases every month.

The line-up for April 2026 is available from April 7 until May 4. With that mind, here's what you can get.

PS Plus Free Games for March 2026

Lords of the Fallen
If you're a soulslike fan, then Lords of the Fallen is an idea laddition to PlayStation Plus for you. It's a stupendous reboot of the 2014 original, of the same name, and sees you explore a world around five times bigger than that first game. Expect hard boss fights, plenty of epic battles, loads of character classes to explore, and hundreds of weapons to try out to find your perfect build.

Tomb Raider I-III Remastered
Three timeless classics in one, and you can dive into the first trilogy of original Tomb Raider adventures this month, which is exceptional 'value' as well as exceptional for nostalgia fans and PlayStation gamers of a...certain age. Refined for modern hardware, and including all expansions and secret levels, this collection is a wonderful way to revisit Lara Croft's original adventures.

Sword Art Online Fractured Daydream
Featuring 21 Sword Art Online characters and the ability to team up with up to 20 other players from around the world, this game will test your skill and is one for the co-op players online. Each character has its own specific role in battle, and with a new system that allows players to relive the past, there's an adventure to get stuck into with Sword Art Online Fractured Daydream.

PlayStation Plus free games: 2026 archive

Below, you'll find the PS Plus offerings for 2026 so far. Use these to see what you've missed, and to predict the kinds of games that might be available in the future

PS Plus Free Games for March 2026

PGA Tour 2K25 | PS5
It's golf, what else is there to say? If you like golf, you'll like this officially licensed sports game that has you stepping into the shoes of some of the most famous golfers in the world. This entry introduces the PGA Championship, the U.S. Open, and The Open Championship to the series for the first time, too.

Monster Hunter Rise | PS5, PS4
Once a Nintendo Switch exclusive, this Monster Hunter game is a blast on PS4 and PS5. With the newest entry Wilds, out now, this is the perfect introduction to the series and a great starter course before diving in.

Slime Rancher 2 | PS5
Slime Rancher 2 is one of the cutest games I've ever played, challenging you to capture and raise adorable jiggly slimes. It's the perfect treat after a long day at work, and a really relaxing way to spend a few hours.

The Elder Scrolls Online Collection: Gold Road | PS5, PS4
This Elder Scrolls MMO is a prequel to Skyrim and is well worth trying if you love the series. This collection comes with access to all the major DLC zones and hundreds upon hundreds of hours worth of content to discover.

PS Plus Free Games for February 2026

Undisputed | PS5
Hot off the heels of Tyson Fury's comeback (again) fight announcement, you too can go full boxer mode with Undisputed on PS5 via PlayStation Plus from February. Chock full of excellent visuals, jaw-breaking punches, and loads of familiar names, you can carve out your ideal boxing adventure - from a scrappy amateur all the way to the top.

Subnautica: Below Zero | PS5, PS4
Go below the waves with Subnautica: Below Zero and play out a survival-cross-study-cross-exploration adventure in an Arctic-like setting while you try to find out what happened to your sister. You'll be able to scavenge to survive, construct habitats, and craft a bunch of equipment to (hopefully) make your journey smoother.

Ultros | PS5, PS4
Featuring a funky art style and wonderful soundtrack, experience Ultros from Hotline Miami maker El Huervo on PlayStation Plus in February. There's brutal combat at close quarters, fabulous environments that provide brief respite, and a loop-based gameplay mechanic that means you can jump back to moments in the game to uncover secrets and unlock different areas and new abilities.

Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown | PS4
Now, if you've been pining for a chance to let loose your inner fighter pilot, then Ace Combat 7 is the game for you this month. Especially in the light of the 8th instalment being announced and coming sometime this year too. Featuring a range of authentic contemporary aircraft and futuristic planes, you can embark on a host of death-defying missions and dogfights as the pilot, Ace.

PS Plus Free Games for January 2026

Need For Speed Unbound | PS5
Start at the bottom, race to the top in the latest entry in the iconic Need for Speed franchise. With separate single and multiplayer campaigns, this latest edition in the Need for Speed franchise from Criterion Games delivers hours of electric, adrenaline-pumping racing action. Race against time, outsmart the cops, and take on weekly qualifiers to reach The Grand, Lakeshore’s ultimate street racing challenge. Pack your garage with precision-tuned, custom rides and light up the streets with your style, exclusive fits, and a vibrant global soundtrack that bumps in every corner of the world.

Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed | PS4, PS5
Play as Mickey Mouse and embark on an epic journey through Wasteland, a realm of forgotten Disney characters. Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed brings the magic of Disney to life in a vibrant 3D platformer. This beautiful remake sends Mickey into a fantastical world where you use paint and thinner to shape your adventure and the fate of this alternate world.

Core Keeper | PS4, PS5
Awaken as an explorer in a long-forgotten cavern teeming with untold secrets. In this award-winning, 1-8 player mining sandbox adventure, your choices shape an epic journey. Harvest relics and resources, craft advanced tools, build your base, and explore a dynamically evolving world waiting to be unearthed. Level up your skills, defeat legendary Titans, and unveil the power of the Core. Grow your garden, fish in mysterious waters, master a vast array of recipes, raise and care for animals, encounter the Cavelings, and carve out your own unique world in an enchanting underground adventure.

Available January 6 until February 2.

PlayStation Plus free games - Subscription prices

In order to get every batch of PlayStation Plus free games you'll need to have an active PS Plus subscription. This can be an Essential (the basic level), the mid-tier Extra subscription, or the top-end Premium subscription, as all will get you the monthly free games. If you're keen to jump in or want to check the latest prices for adding to your existing subscription of want to upgrade, then we've got the latest and lowest prices below.

PlayStation Plus free games - FAQs

PS Plus Game Catalog is continuing to gather momentum, as some high-profile PS5 games make their way to the service next week. 

It's an all-star month for the PS5, that's for sure, as a total of 24 games will be available to users on May 16 at the standard PS Plus subscription rate. There are some real gems here, including some of the very best PS5 games such as Rachet and Clank: Rift Apart and Watchdogs: Legion.  

Where to start with Rachet and Clank: Rift Apart? The latest in the long-running tongue-in-cheek action platformer benefits from the PS5's power with non-existent loading times and stunning visuals behind its fun setting and outlandish adventure. It's one of the rare first-party games exclusive to the console and lacks a PS4 version, so now is the best time to see what all the hype's about if you missed it back in 2021.

Watchdogs has always been a divisive franchise. The open-world hacker-centric sandbox took another wildly new direction with the third entry in the series, transporting you from the rainy and windy streets of Chicago to the sun-bleached beaches of San Francisco, and now to London in the UK. It's a bold change, but not as big as the alterations to the core gameplay loop in Watchdogs: Legion, which involves recruiting NPC civilians as playable characters to build a resistance army instead of having a set-in-stone protagonist like Aiden Pearce or Marcus Holloway. 

Of course, there's far more coming to PS Plus than just these PS5 games. Arkane fans can wash the bad taste of Redfall out of their mouths with Dishonored 2 and Dishonored: Death of the Outsider. The endlessly replayable immersive sims offer some of the best level design, characters, and combat in modern gaming. 

For the full list of titles making their way to the Xbox Game Pass rival, you can check out the recent PlayStation Blog post. I've argued in the past that, roughly a year after the relaunch, PS Plus finally gives Xbox Game Pass a run for its money. If Sony can keep charging ahead by bringing excellent games and big releases to its subscription service, then it's genuinely going to be hard for Microsoft to keep up. Other notable releases for this month include the newest Tomb Raider trilogy, The Evil Within 2, and Humanity; a real winning month if I've ever seen one which should keep us playing for some time to come! 

• Xbox Game Pass vs. New PS Plus: how do they stack up?

The PS Plus Collection is shutting down on May 9, so fans only have one week left to capitalize on the 19 free games that are left before it’s too late. 

While the PlayStation’s Essentials, Extra, and Premium services are all still intact, the predated PS Plus Collection is set to close its doors soon. There is no exact reason why the collection will be leaving the platform, but it seems as if it did not achieve the popularity that Sony had wanted. 

There’s 19 games in total which will be going down with the sinking ship, with 13 of these being found on alternatives PS Plus subscription tiers. Unfortunately, Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, Mortal Kombat 10, and the Ratchet and Clank remake are all titles that’ll be leaving for good.  

Extra special 

Luckily there are a few titles that can be found elsewhere, Resident Evil 7, Fallout 4, and Bloodborne are all on PS Plus Extra, so that these games will be safe for a bit longer. However, there’s no way to know when titles will be removed from the subscription service. 

One stand-out title on the list of games to be leaving the collection has to be the terrifying murder mystery Until Dawn. This interactive drama horror game merges the realities of games and movies to give you an almost unrivalled cinematic experience. Trying to keep each one of the characters alive while navigating the monster-ridden woods is a wonderfully anxious thrill ride. While I have sadly never been able to keep everyone alive, that hasn’t stopped me from trying time and time again. 

If you want to have a couple extra goes at keeping the cast of cliché horror characters alive yourself, then make sure to give the PS Plus Collection one last look before it disappears from the service on May 9. 

• A year after launch, the PS Plus Game Catalog is finally an Xbox Game Pass rival

PS Plus has been around for well over a decade, but it’s only been within the last year since its relaunch that the service finally hit its stride. As the competition excelled with cloud-based streaming and download-on-demand titles, Sony needed an answer. Now, at the beginning of 2023, the console manufacturer has finally found the best solution possible. 

I’ve been a PlayStation gamer for over 20 years and a PS5 owner since getting my hands on one the better part of two years ago. However, until very recently, I was never subscribed to PS Plus. In my mind, there was no incentive to spend money just to play online with prior consoles or the latest in the line-up. Thankfully, that changed when the newly revised service hit shelves with Essential, Extra, and Premium tiers. 

It’s all in direct response to Xbox Game Pass, and while the PS Plus Game Catalog isn’t quite as good yet, in my opinion, there’s more than enough available on the Sony side of the fence to justify upgrading. That’s because there’s a wealth of over 400 titles available, that I wouldn’t normally devote my time or wallet to. At a time when many of the best PS5 games tend to hover around the $60 / £60 / AU$99.99, the greatest strength here is being able to explore new experiences without breaking the bank. 

In some cases, PlayStation-exclusive titles can even exceed these standard prices, as we saw with Demon’s Souls, Returnal, and Ghost of Tsushima at $70 / £70 / AU$125. All these titles, at the time of writing, are now available to download at no additional cost through the PS Plus Extra Game Catalog. You aren’t getting day-one releases as with Microsoft’s leading client, but I think Sony’s efforts are well worth commending all things considered. 

All your games are belong to us  

That’s the initial appeal of the PS Plus Game Catalog, sure. You’re paying a monthly fee of $14.99 / £10.99 / AU$18.95 (the price of the Extra tier) to get some heavy hitters without shelling out hundreds of dollars otherwise. However, the deeper I dug, the more I became interested in games I wouldn’t normally spend my money on. 

I like to think I’m the kind of person that plays pretty much anything, but I do find it pretty challenging to convince myself to spend full price on a game that I might not like. I’ve been burned countless times over the years, as have many, which typically means I spend time reading reviews and watching gameplay before committing to a new experience. However, the Game Catalog removed that fear in me; it essentially acted as the virtual Blockbuster store I didn’t know I needed on the PS5 platform.

For example, I’ve recently finally sat down and played Spider-Man: Miles Morales and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. You see, while I’m a big fan of Marvel’s Spider-Man from a few years ago, I didn’t immediately rush into the next entry because of the price of entry. Miles’ chapter isn’t quite a full-length game, clocking in around eight hours when all is said and done - which is a little less than half of the run time of the original at a similar price point. 

In for a penny  

Game-length debate aside, PS Plus had opened entire new genres to me that I wouldn’t usually pay for. I’ve now got close to 40 games in my PlayStation Plus game library, many of which are downloaded to my SSD for PS5, and I’m just as excited about jumping into PS4 games that I’ve missed over the years as I have been with catching up on the latest and greatest.

Some immediate titles that come to mind are Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Mortal Shell, and Death Stranding, the latter of which I was on the fence about experiencing due to its long run time and demanding nature. With more games being added every month, and some sure to disappear, I have a new incentive to try things out. In a world where game demos have all but been eradicated, I no longer have any worry about devoting time to new games. I just play them, and if I like what I see then I continue. 

If the price of games in 2023 was a major obstacle as to why I don’t get around to as many as I’d like, then the value argument here reigns supreme. That’s because I can afford £10.99 / $14.99 / AU$18.95 per month to play as many games as I want and know that at least five or six at any one time can hold my interest. I am not in the position to throw down what would have been full-price or discounted rates to do the same. That’s where the PS Plus Game Catalog excels. It isn’t Game Pass, but it doesn’t have to be; as long as it continues to build on this foundation, I’ll keep playing what gets put out.  

• Xbox Game Pass vs. New PS Plus: how do they stack up?

PSVR 2, Sony’s current-generation virtual reality headset, has been off to a rocky start. It’s been on store shelves for little over a month, but already the writing’s on the wall: Sony needs to do its headset some favors if it wants to shift more units.

As great as PSVR 2 is, it’s not really living up to its fullest potential yet. The game library appears largely uninspiring, packed with ports of VR games you can get on other, cheaper headsets like Meta Quest 2. And what few exclusive games there are, like Horizon: Call of the Mountain, come in at full price.

Given the astronomical cost of one, getting the headset for your PS5 and two, actually purchasing games for the thing, it can leave one’s bank account feeling gut-punched and winded. Sony would do well to offset some of that cost with its excellent PS Plus subscription service. So why doesn’t it?

The benefits of PS Plus

In recent months, I think the PS Plus service has really come into its own. We’ve seen massive games like Horizon: Forbidden West and Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection come to Sony’s digital library recently. So it’s clear that the hardware manufacturer is growing more comfortable with hosting some of the best PS5 games in its Game Catalog. And with anticipated upcoming games like Tchia arriving on launch day, PS Plus is starting to shape into a confident Xbox Game Pass rival.

If I was Sony, I’d be very interested in continuing to host games on the service that you cannot get anywhere else. At least for the cost of a monthly subscription. The best PSVR 2 games are ripe for this, I feel. Much like its Xbox Series X|S rival, PS Plus is an excellent tool for game discovery. If I’m a fresh PSVR 2 owner, I’d be extremely keen to download and play entirely new experiences at no extra cost.

VR typically lends itself well to smaller, more novel experiences. Be it Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge authentic blaster-based immersion, Superhot VR’s frantic dipping and diving or Tetris Effect’s immaculate vibes, the VR gaming space is nothing if not full of surprises.

That feeling of discoverability would play so well into PS Plus’ Game Catalog. You could even have a separate VR Catalog, tailor-made to showcase a variety of fun and innovative games playable only on a VR headset. And it works both ways: you ship more PSVR 2 units, getting more and more people comfortable with the VR space, and boost PS Plus subscription numbers in turn.

Cold feet?

So that begs the question: why is Sony passing on something that it could greatly benefit from? There’s the argument that VR is still a niche space. And by including PSVR 2 games on PS Plus, you may only be appealing to a subset of a subset, when there’s always bigger fish to fry, more heads to turn with the marquee Game Catalog selection.

But I’m not quite on board with this. As it stands, PSVR 2 is the only game in town when it comes to console-based VR. And Sony clearly wants its headset to be more than a niche product enjoyed by a fortunate few. Sony’s CFO, Hiroki Totoki, has expressed optimism at PSVR 2 outselling its predecessor, the PlayStation VR.

Right now, that’s not looking particularly achievable, with the report that PSVR 2 is underperforming. If true, I’d say there’s no better time than now for Sony to better incentivize its player base to opt into VR. A price cut would help, obviously, but even if PSVR 2 has its retail price slashed significantly, that only solves half the problem. You still want players to be able to experience most of what the headset has to offer.

And I think that’s why PS Plus is crucial to PSVR 2’s long-term success. The majority of its games, at present, are available on competing headsets. So what if we could try some of these relatively bite-sized experiences, like Puzzling Places, Kayak VR and Townsmen VR, without paying a penny extra? This feeds into PS Plus’s discoverability factor, and wouldn’t require players to spend hundreds more on a handful of titles.

Sony will likely stick to its guns on the high price of PSVR 2, which is all the more reason it could stand to offer at least some of the headset’s library on PS Plus. Perhaps it’s an ace the company has up its sleeve, waiting for the opportune moment to boost PS Plus’s Game Catalog with a swathe of new games. If we’re not getting a price cut, I think this is the least Sony can do to make PSVR 2 all the more appealing to a wider audience.

• I played Gran Turismo 7 in PSVR 2, and now I can't go back

A fresh PlayStation Plus deal is now available that takes up to 40% off the cost of a membership to the usually more expensive Extra and Premium tiers. With this discount, you can get a full year of PS Plus Extra for the same price as the more basic Essential membership - giving you access to hundreds of PS5 and PS4 games.

Like last year's best-ever deal, though, it's only available for new or returning subscribers who don't have an existing membership.

Still, if you're eligible, that means you can get 12 months of PlayStation Plus Extra for $59.99 / £49.99 / AU$99.95. That's the lowest price yet for the mid-tier of Sony's gaming subscription service for PS5 and PS4 – and an excellent offer just added to the current PlayStation Store Holiday sale.

With PlayStation Plus Extra you get all of the benefits found in the Essential tier, which includes access to online multiplayer, cloud saves, exclusive deals, and a selection of free PS Plus games each month. 

Extra also comes with access to a regularly expanded catalogue of PS4 and PS5 games to play on your console. Major releases such as Demon's Souls, Death Stranding and Assassin's Creed Valhalla are some of the biggest names on it right now. More recent additions include Judgment, Far Cry 5 and WWE 2K22. 

While Extra is the same price as Essential, it's an excellent buy in terms of value for money and usefulness so you should definitely get it for bonuses like that. So, if you're a new PS5 or PS4 owner looking to sign up for Sony's gaming subscription service for the first time (or want to renew after a previous membership has expired) now's the time to buy.

Today's best PlayStation Plus deal

For those considering the upgrade to PlayStation Plus Premium, this tier combines everything in Essential and Extra, as well as access to more PS1, PS2, PS3 and PSP games for download or streaming. Plus, there are limited-time game trials for blockbuster releases. It's good if you want to relive some iconic titles from gaming's past like Syphon Filter, Ape Escape or the newly-added Ridge Racer 2.

Either way, it's the best PlayStation Plus deal we've seen for these new PS Plus membership tiers. Of course, eligibility is limited. It's also worth noting that the Essential option was cheaper towards the end of last year, so if you don't want all the bonuses from Extra or Premium, a similar deal may return in a few months during the Days of Play sale.

For those currently in the middle of a membership and looking to add more time, you can check out more of today's best PlayStation Plus deals below.

If you've ended up here and are still after one of Sony's latest consoles, you can check our PS5 restock hub for all the news of current availability around Christmas. Do also check out our wider PS5 deals hub, which has offers on games, bundles, accessories and more.

Sony's offer of up to 50% off PlayStation Plus has just been extended until December 23, so you've got a few extra days to take advantage if you missed out over the last week. One nasty caveat: this deal is unfortunately only available for new or returning subscribers who don't have an existing membership.

It might not apply to everyone, then, but if you're eligible it brings the price of PlayStation Plus Essential down to $29.99 / £24.99 / AU$39.95. That's the lowest price ever since the new PS Plus launched earlier this year.

PlayStation Plus Essential is the basic membership tier that features all the key benefits, such as access to online multiplayer, cloud saves, exclusive deals, and a selection of free PS Plus games each month. This is likely the best option for most, both in terms of value for money and usefulness.

A flat discount of $30 / £25 / AU$40 also applies to the Extra and Premium tiers, so those after more from their membership can also find a saving until Friday.

Whichever tier you go for, then, this is the time to buy to get the best price. It's especially good for new PS5 or PS4 owners looking to sign up for Sony's gaming subscription service for the first time or those looking to renew after a previous membership has expired.

Today's best PlayStation Plus deal

For those considering a tier upgrade, know that with PlayStation Plus Extra you get all of the previous benefits, as well as access to a forever-changing catalogue of PS4 and PS5 games to play on your console. It includes major releases such as Demon's Souls, Death Stranding and Stray. More recent additions include Judgment, Far Cry 5 and WWE 2K22 (from January 3).

Lastly, there's PlayStation Plus Premium, which combines everything above, as well as access to more PS1, PS2, PS3 and PSP games for download or streaming, and limited-time game trials for blockbuster releases. It's good if you want to relive some iconic titles from gaming's past like Syphon Filter, Ape Escape or the newly-added Ridge Racer 2.

Whichever tier you go for, it's a much better PlayStation Plus deal compared to what we saw over Black Friday. Of course, though, eligibility is more limited. For those currently in the middle of a membership and looking to add more time, you can check out more of today's best PlayStation Plus deals below.

If you've ended up here and are still after one of Sony's latest consoles, you can check our PS5 restock hub for all the news of current availability around Christmas. Do also check out our wider PS5 deals hub, which has offers on games, bundles, accessories and more.

We've also got dedicated hubs to this year's Christmas sales in the US and the upcoming Boxing Day sales in the UK for a wider selection of deals.

Fans of action RPGs might have another reason to celebrate this holiday season as, according to a recent leak, PlayStation Plus's free games lineup for December includes the acclaimed Mass Effect trilogy.

The leak comes via French netizen billbil-kun, of business tips forum Dealabs, who has previously accurately leaked PlayStation Plus Essential free games on numerous occasions.

If their information stands true, we can expect Biomutant and Divine Knockout to accompany the complete remastered trilogy of Mass Effect (available now as Mass Effect Legendary Edition) when the PS Plus free games for December land on December 6.

A Christmas miracle?

While it’s an exciting prospect that Ps Plus subscribers might get their hands on a free copy of one of the most highly-regarded action RPGs of the last two decades, you’d be wise to approach this news with caution until an official announcement is made by Sony.

However, there are many reasons to be cautiously optimistic. Billbil-kun does have a strong track record for being a reliable leak source when it comes to PS Plus content. They have accurately leaked the last several months of PlayStation Plus’s free games roster, so being correct for the December line-up once again certainly isn’t out of the question.

It would make sense for combat-driven Divine Knockout to be included in the December 2022 offering. It has already been given a release date of December 6, which backs up billbil-kun’s assertion that all three games will come to PS Plus on that date. If this is true, it would mark another day-one PS Plus release, following in the footsteps (paw steps?) of sci-fi cat simulator Stray.

Biomutant casts a similar shadow to Divine Knockout, being a martial arts-heavy RPG. Originally released in 2021 to past-gen consoles, its September 2022 debut on PS5 and Xbox Series X│S means that it could do with a little pushing from Sony if it wants to make a splash for current-gen gamers.

The star of the show would of course be Mass Effect Legendary Edition. The remastered version of the award-winning action RPG trilogy, this third-person gunslinging sci-fi epic has been keeping us entertained for well over a decade now. 

With remastered visuals to truly enhance your experience of all three games, we can’t help but cross our fingers that billbil-kun’s impressive track record holds strong for one more month.

• Can't wait til December 6? Here are the best RPGs to get your hands on first.

As much as I’ve been enjoying the PS5 since its 2020 launch, I have to say that I think the future’s looking bleak for Sony’s flagship console.

It’s hard to deny the PS5 has blazed a trail throughout the current console generation. It’s housed some of my favorite games this decade including Returnal, Astro’s Playroom and the Demon’s Souls remake.

But in the wake of the PS5’s unfortunate price hike, my enthusiasm for the console’s future has waned. Between overpriced upcoming peripherals like PSVR 2 and the DualSense Edge to severely undercooked services in PS Plus and PlayStation Stars, Sony continues to fumble the bag with every announcement. At least for me. And with recent news that Sony’s continuing its foray into NFTs, I’m unable to fathom the slightest bit of excitement for the PS5 now.

Sure, 2023’s looking bright if you’re in it for the games. Final Fantasy 16, Spider-Man 2 and the Silent Hill 2 remake headline a strong set of exclusives, and I’m sure Sony’s ultra-talented first-party studios have more up their sleeves. But for anyone yet to buy into the PS5 ecosystem, astronomically high prices for both hardware and software make it a tougher sell than ever before.

The high cost of a PS5

Let’s start with the console itself. Since the price increase earlier this year, the PS5 retails for $499.99 / £479.99 / AU$799.95. No change in the US, then (yet), but it’s been pushed slightly more out of reach for plenty of potential buyers the world over. 

Now, the PS5 Digital Edition is an easier sell at $399.99 / £389.99 / AU$649.95, but only if you’re willing to forgo the disc drive. And there’s every chance that lower price point could be phased out if rumors of the next PS5 revision turn out to be true.

As with any console, though, the investment doesn’t stop there. First and third-party AAA games on PS5 typically cost $70 / £70 / AU$109 brand new. That means that many of the best PS5 games like God of War Ragnarok and Horizon Forbidden West could be out of reach for buyers on a stricter budget.

Granted, the high cost of games isn’t exclusive to PS5. Brand new games on Xbox Series X|S typically match Sony on price. Sony is, however, leading the charge on grossly overpriced peripherals. 

The DualSense Edge, the manufacturer’s debut ‘Pro’ controller, will launch at $199.99 / £209.99 in January 2023. Now, obviously the Edge isn’t required to fully enjoy games on PS5, but the point is that the pad looks to have only marginal improvements over the base DualSense, namely a couple of back paddle buttons and customizable profiles. 

The controller’s adaptive triggers or haptic feedback don’t seem to have any improvements, and there’s still concerningly little info on the Edge’s battery life. Given the DualSense’s retail price of $69.99 / £59.99 / AU$109.95, you’re paying a lot extra for the Edge for relatively little in return.

That also goes for PSVR 2, which looks to be an even worse offender. At $549.99 / £529.99 (around AU$858), it costs even more than the PS5 itself. Regardless of the headset’s quality, that’s a bad look no matter how you slice it.

Again, PSVR 2 won’t make or break your PS5 experience, but its high cost, as well as that of other peripherals and games, does set the precedent that it’s an exclusionary console; its best and most valuable products only available to those with enough disposable income and who’re willing to track PS5 restocks.

PS Minus

Things don’t get much better when looking at Sony’s proprietary subscription service: PS Plus. Since the service’s revamp, it’s been split into three tiers, with the higher two taking on an Xbox Game Pass-esque approach. Sounds great, right? And yes, PS Plus does have its perks.

The problem, once again, comes down to the pricing. You can only access everything PS Plus has to offer with the Premium tier subscription. That’s $17.99 / £13.49 a month, and adds the old PS Now service’s library of streamable PS3 games, as well as a handful of PS2, PS1 and PSP titles. 

The problem here is that emulation is pretty poor across the board, and PS1 game implementation feels rushed. When I tried it for myself, I witnessed very noticeable ghosting when moving the camera in some games. Worse still, in Europe, several titles are locked to their 50Hz PAL version, with no option to play the higher refresh rate NTSC versions.

It’s not impossible to get your money’s worth with PS Plus, but its revamp smacks of a product rushed out to compete with Microsoft’s cost-effective Xbox Game Pass. The same can be said of the woeful PlayStation Stars, Sony’s absurd rewards scheme earns players store credit and digital collectible figures for buying games and unlocking Trophies. 

The problem? The credit to money spending ratio is horrendously weighted in Sony’s favor, netting you 4% of the cost of a game in store credit. As Kotaku points out, that’s just $2.80 back when you buy a full-price game. By comparison, the My Nintendo rewards program on Nintendo Switch offers 5% back on every digital game purchase. That doesn’t sound like much of a difference, but it adds up. And given that the best Nintendo Switch games are typically cheaper than on competing platforms, your reward points go much further.

But at least PlayStation Stars isn’t pushing NFTs, as was the initial worry, right? Well don’t rest easy just yet, as it’s been reported that Sony is continuing its push for NFTs  (thanks, VGC) on PS5. If the console’s high prices across the board already didn’t make it feel exclusionary, then official support for NFTs will certainly push that feeling over the edge.

• PlayStation Stars vs Microsoft Rewards vs My Nintendo: which does rewards best?

Has your PS Plus membership run out? Or have you just been waiting for the right time to subscribe to Sony's online subscription service? Either way, Black Friday presents the perfect opportunity to pick up or renew a PlayStation Plus subscription. 

There will be plenty of great Black Friday PS5 deals and Black Friday PS4 deals floating around this year, but PS Plus should be every PlayStation owner's priority during the hectic sales period. Sure, PS Plus deals tend to pop up throughout the year, but Black Friday is the only time of the year we reliably see PlayStation Plus memberships drop to their lowest prices. 

The best part of renewing or picking up a 12-month PS Plus subscription during this period is that when you need to renew again next year it'll be Black Friday again, so you'll get a discount again. It's a genius strategy. It’s also why I always recommend a one-year subscription, rather than three or one-month subs. Even if you're at the critical point where your subscription is due to run out before Black Friday, I advise picking up a cheaper one-month subscription to tide you over until then (check out our cheapest PS Plus deals page for more) before grabbing a bigger discount later on.

But, picking up a great Black Friday PS Plus deal in 2022 won’t be as straightforward as it has been in previous years. Back in June, Sony revamped the subscription service. The overhauled PS Plus is now tiered, with higher tiers combining Sony’s PS Now streaming service (which is now unavailable as a standalone). As such, getting a good PS Plus deal isn’t as simple as buying a discounted 12-month subscription, instead, you now need to buy gift cards.

That doesn’t mean sizeable discounts won’t be available, however. These gift cards will likely be discounted during the Black Friday period, allowing you to purchase PS Plus memberships for less. You can still ‘stack’ memberships to an extent, too – though the process is a bit different than in previous years. 

Want to know more? Here’s what you need to know to bag yourself a Black Friday PS Plus bargain this year.

How do I get a great Black Friday PS Plus deal?

As mentioned above, Sony has now scrapped producing and selling PS Plus subscription cards. While some will likely be floating about at third-party retailers this year, I advise avoiding them as they can’t be stacked, are outdated, and likely won’t offer the best value for money.

Instead of PS Plus cards, retailers are selling PlayStation gift cards. These have always been available, but now, when you look up ‘PS Plus’ on Amazon UK, for example, these gift cards come up instead of subscription cards. There’s a good reason for that. 

With no subscription cards to sell, retailers like Amazon are instead offering the cost of each of PS Plus’ subscription tiers in a gift card. In the UK, you can buy a £50 gift card that will cover a year of PS Plus Essential, an £84 gift card to cover a year of Extra, or a £100 card to cover a year of Premium. 

In the US, however, buying gift cards to cover your subscription seems to be a bit less straightforward. A year of PS Plus Essential costs $59.99, Extra costs $99.99, and Premium costs $119.99, but there aren’t cards that specifically cover these amounts. However, you can pair two cards to make the right amount. For example, buying two $30 gift cards to cover a $60 Essential subscription.

During Black Friday sales, we will likely see these gift cards discounted, which means you pay less for the gift card and, therefore, less for your PS Plus membership.

To actually redeem these subscriptions, you need to redeem the gift card (which adds the funds to your PlayStation wallet) and then pay for the subscription out of your wallet. It’s certainly not as straightforward as the subscription cards, but the end is the same – you save on your membership.

Can you still stack PS Plus memberships?

Whether you can still stack PS Plus memberships is somewhat confusing, but here’s what you need to know.

For starters, you cannot stack the original PS Plus subscription cards. Sony has blocked that, so don’t buy up a load and hope to stack them for the next few years. When it comes to the new tiered subscriptions, however, you can extend your active PS Plus membership (almost like stacking). So you can buy up enough gift cards to cover both this year and an extra year of membership, at a discount, meaning you don’t have to worry about renewing your PS Plus membership until 2024. To use these, you redeem the cards as explained above, buy your current year of membership then select ‘buy another subscription’ in your PlayStation account and use the extra wallet funds to add another year’s subscription on. This should add extra time to your current subscription, saving you money in the long run. 

It is worth noting, however, it is currently unclear if there’s a limit to how much extended time you can add to your subscription. TRG has contacted Sony for clarification but, at present, we advise not buying more than two years’ worth. I will update this article as soon as I know more. 

• Not sure which PS5 to buy? Here are the key differences between the standard and digital models.

PS Plus's October game catalog lineup is a good one. If you're a big Assassin's Creed fan, that is.

The PS Plus game catalog updates for October feature six Assassin's Creed games, the best of the bunch being Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Odyssey is joined by Assassin's Creed Syndicate, Assassin's Creed 3 Remastered and the Assassin's Creed Chronicles trilogy. Alongside Assassin's Creed Valhalla, that's a lot of AC love available on PS5.

JRPG fans have a lot in store for October, too, especially if you're into Dragon Quest. Dragon Quest 11 S: Echoes of an Elusive Age – Definitive Edition is an excellent choice if you're looking to scratch that JRPG itch. It's joined by the Dragon Quest Heroes and Dragon Quest Builders games, too.

October's the perfect time to get your spook on, consider downloading creepy games like Inside and The Medium if you're after some horror goodness. Finally, GTA Vice City: Definitive Edition rounds out the major additions to PS Plus's October game catalog lineup. All will be available to download from October 18 if you have a PS Plus Extra or Premium tier subscription.

See the full list of game catalog additions for October on the official PlayStation blog.

A great month for Extra, but Premium... ?

PS Plus Extra subscribers have a lot to look forward to this month. There's loads of great additions here that complement this month's PS Plus free games. But once again, it looks like PS Plus Premium subscribers have been left out to dry.

Premium subscribers are getting Yakuza 3, 4 and 5 Remastered this month, which feels a little cheeky considering these are PS4 titles that probably should be downloadable via the Extra tier as well. There's some PS3 representation in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and Everyday Shooter, but nothing for PS1, PS2 or PSP fans.

It feels like a missed opportunity on Sony's part. It's Halloween season, so what better time to feature some of the best classic Resident Evil games, or any of the first four Silent Hill games? Thankfully, PS Plus Premium does host one extremely good PS2 survival horror game, but October would've been the perfect time to add more.

PS Plus October game catalog additions

• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City – The Definitive Edition (PS5, PS4)
• Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (PS4)
• Assassin's Creed Syndicate (PS4)
• Assassin's Creed 3 Remastered (PS4)
• Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China (PS4)
• Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India (PS4)
• Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia (PS4)
• Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age – Definitive Edition (PS4)
• Dragon Quest Builders (PS4)
• Dragon Quest Builders 2 (PS4)
• Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree’s Woe and the Blight Below (PS4)
• Dragon Quest Heroes II: Explorer’s Edition (PS4)
• Inside (PS4)
• The Medium (PS4)
• Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker (PS4)
• Hohokum (PS4)
• Yakuza 3 Remastered (PS4)
• Yakuza 4 Remastered (PS4)
• Yakuza 5 Remastered (PS4)
• Limbo (PS4)
• Ultra Street Fighter 4 (PS4)
• Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (PS3)
• Everyday Shooter (PS3)

• Xbox Series X Insiders just got access to an awesome new party chat feature

Sony has announced the next batch of free games coming to PS Plus, and there’s a fantastic FPS among them.

Leading the pack of October’s free PS Plus games is Superhot, an action movie wrapped in a puzzle shooter. The indie game’s central gimmick is that time only moves when you do, letting you dodge bullets and grab weapons mid-air as you fight through a series of challenge rooms. Combat is frenetic, and its time-bending gunplay makes it a refreshing remix of a well-trodden genre.

Originally released on PC in 2016, before coming to PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, Superhot turned heads with its sleek shooing and abstract visuals. We reckon its fine mix of tactical maneuvering and chaotic bullet hells makes it one of the best FPS games around. Its VR spinoff – Superhot VR – is also one of the best VR games to play, brilliantly demonstrating the potential of the medium.

Hot stuff

In a blog post, Sony announced that Superhot will be joined by 2017 superhero fighting game Injustice 2. From the creators of Mortal Kombat, Injustice pits a bunch of twisted DC superheroes against one another in ludicrous beat-‘em-up matches. You can play through its single-player campaign to stop the evil Superman, or hop straight into an online fight to smash (or be smashed).

Hot Wheels Unleashed will also be up for grabs. The arcade racing game lets you collect, build and drive the titular toys, as well as create your own tracks in a fairly powerful track builder. It also features two-player split-screen and fairly chaotic 12-player online multiplayer modes. The game might be based on a line of toys, but it’s a surprisingly comprehensive arcade racer.

All three games are available for PS Plus Essential, Extra, and Premium members from Tuesday, October 4 until Monday, October 31. Subscribers will have until Monday, October 3 to download last month’s batch of free games: Need for Speed Heat, Granblue Fantasy: Versus, and Toem.  

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PS Plus is receiving its first new batch of retro games since the revamped subscription service launched, alongside one of the best shooters of 2021.

Among the stack of older PlayStation titles hitting PS Plus Premium this September is cult-classic PS1 shooter Syphon Filter 2, PS3 platformer Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, and another trio of raccoon-led platformers in The Sly Collection. This is the first time any additional PS1 or PS3 games have been added to PS Plus’s retro collection, after August and July’s line-ups left Premium subscribers out in the cold.

A bunch of newer titles will also be coming for PS Plus Extra members, including last year's standout PS5 shooter Deathloop. Developed by the same studio behind Prey and Dishonored 2, it throws you in the shoes of an assassin stuck in a time loop. All the usual immersive sim features are there, including slick stealth mechanics and fabulously vertical level design, as well as a competitive multiplayer invasion mode.

Also coming to PS Plus Extra are a couple of Ubisoft games. Assassins’ Creed Origins and Watch Dogs 2 will be added as part of the platform’s built-in Ubisoft+ component. The games were only recently added to Microsoft’s rival Xbox Game Pass, marking a growing crossover between the subscription platforms.

Three new games will also be added for PS Plus Essential subscribers. They include 2019 racing game Need for Speed Heat, fighting game spin-off Granblue Fantasy: Versus, and monochromatic photography puzzler Toem. All three will be available to claim until October 3.

The gamut of generations

Also making their way to PS Plus for all Extra and Premium subscribers is paint-based adventure game Chicory: A Colorful Tale, bittersweet management sim Spiritfarer, and zany 2D platformer Rayman Legends.

Here’s when all those new games will be coming to each PS Plus tier this September:

PS Essential (September 6 until October 3)

• Need for Speed Heat | PS4
• Granblue Fantasy: Versus | PS4
• Toem | PS5

PS Plus Extra and Premium (September 20)

• Deathloop | PS5
• Assassin’s Creed Origins | PS4
• Watch Dogs 2 | PS4
• Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 | PS4
• Spiritfarer: Farewell Edition | PS4
• Chicory: A Colorful Tale | PS4
• Monster Energy Supercross – The Official Videogame 5 | PS4, PS5
• Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX | PS4, PS5
• Rabbids Invasion: The Interactive TV Show | PS4
• Rayman Legends | PS4
• Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game – Complete Edition | PS4

PS Plus Premium (September 20)

• Syphon Filter 2 | PS1
• Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time | PS3
• Bentley’s Hackpack | PS3
• Toy Story 3 | PSP
• Kingdom of Paradise | PSP

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The next bundle of games heading to PS Plus has been announced, but might disappoint Premium subscribers.

A bumper crop of 10 games will be hitting PS Plus's Premium and Extra libraries on August 16. As listed in a PlayStation blog post, they're headlined by a trio of Yakuza titles – Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami, and Yakuza Kiwami 2. All three are beloved action RPGs, with Yakuza 0 arguably offering the best entry point into the main series.

They’ll be joined by asymmetric multiplayer horror game Dead by Daylight, which challenges four players to fend off – or more likely flee from – a single unstoppable killer. It’s proven to be one of the more popular multiplayer slashers of recent years, and we even reckon it’s one of the best horror games around.

Critter-catcher Bugsnax is also coming to the subscription service, alongside open-world co-op shooter Ghost Recon Wildlands. Bugsnax hit Xbox Game Pass only a few months ago, while Ghost Recon Wildlands was also added earlier this month. All that points to a growing crossover between PS Plus and Game Pass.

A few older titles and smaller games will also be making their way to Sony's subscription platform. Here’s all the games coming to PS Plus on August 16:

• Yakuza 0
• Yakuza Kiwami
• Yakuza Kiwami 2
• Dead by Daylight
• Ghost Recon Wildlands
• Bugsnax
• Metro Exodus
• Trials of Mana
• Uno
• Monopoly Madness
• Monopoly Plus

Retro no-show

While that’s a hefty number of new games, there’s one big omission among them: retro titles. One of PS Plus Premium’s main selling points is its roster of classic PS1, PS2, PSP and PS3 games that players can download and play on demand. But any retro enthusiasts hoping to dig into Sony’s back catalog will have nothing new to play from this month’s line-up.

It’s a repeat of last month’s PS Plus showing, which also included no additional retro games besides two PSP ports. Sony again looks to have forgotten about Premium members, who might feel frustrated that their higher subscription fee is netting them few monthly benefits over the cheaper Extra tier.

With the revamped PS Plus platform only launching a couple of months ago, Premium members are still likely enjoying the massive collection of retro games included at its release. But that won’t keep them occupied forever, especially as many of them are simply carried over from the old PlayStation Now service. 

If future PS Plus monthly line-ups continue to offer no new retro games, Premium subscribers might decide the extra $3 / £2.50 / AU$3 monthly cost simply isn’t worth it.

• Nintendo is offering the chance to try out Splatoon 3 before its release

The next game hitting PS Plus has been revealed, and suggests Sony’s subscription service may soon look closer to Xbox Game Pass.

Ghost Recon Wildlands will be coming to PS Plus Extra and Premium later this month, as part of the service’s newly revamped on-demand game library. That’s according to Dealabs user billbil-kun, who has successfully leaked each new round of PS Plus titles for several months (thanks, Push Square).

The open-world tactical shooter sends you to Bolivia to take down a powerful drug cartel, and includes all the staple features you’d expect from a Ubisoft sandbox. While we don’t reckon it’s one of the best co-op games you could play, it does let you shoot your way through an expansive environment with up to three buddies.

Playing catch-up

Wildlands will be added to PS Plus as part of its Ubisoft+ Classics library – a selection of older Ubisoft titles available for all Extra and Premium members. But its addition is particularly noteworthy because the game was just added to Xbox Game Pass.

Earlier this year, Microsoft announced a new partnership with Ubisoft, promising to bring more of the publisher’s titles to its subscription service. So far, that’s included Assassin’s Creed Origins, Watch Dogs 2, and most recently, Ghost Recon Wildlands. While those releases were thought to be the product of the companies' recent deal, Wildlands’ upcoming addition to PS Plus suggests the Xbox add-ons may not be as exclusive as previously thought. As more titles hit Ubisoft+, the two services could begin to look more similar than ever.

It’s not just Ubisoft titles that are homogenizing the services, either. Yakuza: Like a Dragon is coming to PS Plus later this month, with much of the rest of the series dropping later in the year. But most of the Yakuza games have already been added to Game Pass, leaving Sony playing catch-up. As Xbox and PlayStation look to shore up their services by adding more titles, they may end up cementing their own similarities. In the meantime, you might want to prep by checking out how to play the Yakuza games in order.

Microsoft will likely be banking on its day-one launches to keep an edge over PS Plus. Sony, meanwhile, can point to its extensive catalog of retro PS1, PS2, and PS3 games as an advantage over Game Pass. Regardless of how the services try to individualize themselves, more games and more features can only be good for subscribers.

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 beta dates are disappointing for Xbox players

PS Plus Essential’s next batch of monthly games has been revealed, and there’s one title in particular that’ll interest subscribers.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon will be available to claim by PS Plus members in August. That’s according to Dealabs user billbil-kun, who regularly and successfully leaks the subscription platform’s monthly free games.

The 2020 release is arguably one of the best JRPGs of recent years and a standout installment in the entire series. Swapping out Yakuza’s classic beat-‘em-up combat for a turn-based system, it’s got all the hallmarks of a great RPG. Expect memorable sidequests, excellent writing, and a sprawling world to explore.

Like a Dragon is also a fantastic route into the series if you’re totally fresh to Yakuza. Set in a different city to its predecessors with a new cast of characters, you don’t need to know anything about the 15-year-old series to jump in. That'll save you some time wrangling over how to play the Yakuza games in order just to work out where to begin.

Like a skater

It’ll be joined by 2020’s Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2, a remaster of the first two titles in the skateboarding series. In our review, we said it’s a “perfectly executed remake” that “delivers in all the areas that fans of the original would expect, and sweetens the deal by adding all the modern necessities we demand of today’s video games”.

The 2017 horror platformer Little Nightmares completes August’s batch of free games. It places you in the little shoes of a miniature figure to escape a series of twisted nightmares and whimsical puzzles.

If you’re a PS Plus subscriber, you’ll be able to claim all three games from August 2 to September 6. As usual, if you pick them up in time, you can continue playing them for as long as your PS Plus membership lasts. They’re available for PS Plus Extra and Premium subscribers, too, but won’t be added to the higher-tier, on-demand download library.

If you’re an Xbox Game Pass subscriber, don’t worry. Yakuza: Like a Dragon is already on Microsoft's platform, alongside most other games in the series, including Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami.

• Stray's cryptic language is just a cipher – here's how to decode it
  

PlayStation console exclusive Stray is all anyone's talking about, and you can get in on the conversation by playing it for free.

Sony is currently offering a weeklong PS Plus trial for the Premium and Extra tiers of its revamped subscription service that rolled out last month. If you're a cat who's been mesmerized by the game, this is the news you've been waiting for. Just make sure your humans know about it. 

The free PS Plus trial means you don't have to spend $17.99 / £13.49 to give PS Plus Premium a whirl. But keep in mind that you'll only be eligible for it if you're a completely new PS Plus subscriber who's never paid for the service in the past. 

It also extends to the Australian equivalent – PS Plus Deluxe – which usually costs AU$21.95. This isn't immediately obvious on PS Plus's Australian website, but the fine print on the US site states that the trial is for "PlayStation Plus Extra, Deluxe or Premium."

How to get PS Plus Premium for free

Getting PS Plus Premium or PS Plus Extra for free is super easy. Just head to the PS Plus page on the PlayStation Store and hit 'view all membership plans'.  If you're eligible for a free trial, you'll see the option pop up as shown in the handy screenshot above. 

Given that it's a free trial with strict caveats, we suggest you give PS Plus Premium a go. If you don't want to carry on paying after the seven days, or don't like what's on offer, set a reminder to cancel, so you don't get charged.

The trial will give you free reign of what's available on PS Plus Premium. The library includes some of the best PS5 games and a chunky selection of last-gen PS4 titles. Retro fans can also check out the growing collection of PS1, PS2 and PSP games. 

And rounding out the collection is a roster of PS3 titles, though these can only be streamed, not downloaded. Sadly, though, the PS3 library still isn't available in Australia. Hopefully the region will get access to these games at a later date.

Best of all, the new PS Plus Premium free trial will let you try out the newly released (and critically acclaimed) Stray, at no extra cost. This creative cyberpunk adventure sees you playing as an adorable kitty, doing its best to survive in a perilous futuristic city.

If you've been looking forward to Stray, and have yet to try out PS Plus for yourself, this free trial pretty much lets you kill two birds with one... um... cat. 

And as the old PS Plus service rolled into the new, you unfortunately won't be eligible for the free trial if you were a PS Plus subscriber before the June revamp.

PS Plus's new Extra and Premium tiers are still young, having only launched last month. It's taken a rather scattershot approach to the games included in its library – especially with the older PS Now's cloud-based PS3 library feeling unceremoniously bolted on.

It's not as well-curated as Xbox Game Pass, but we're already seeing some high-profile games come to the new PS Plus. This month, for example, sees Final Fantasy 7 Remake (and its Intergrade expansion) and Marvel's Avengers land on the service alongside Stray. And for retro fans, games from older generations are set to come to PS Plus at a steady clip.

As a result, the gap between new PS Plus vs. old PS Plus is already widening. And we hope the service continues to add value like this for years to come.

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